Attendance

You will earn your participation grade through class attendance and engagement over the course of the semester. Class participation may include activities, quizzes, discussions, reflective writing, etc. and may be graded as complete/incomplete or graded based on a rubric. Participation totals a set percentage of your grade (as indicated by your instructor in the syllabus) with a certain number of participation opportunities worth a certain number of points each. Each instructor will lay out procedures for earning participation in the syllabus and/or on Canvas.

Excused and Unexcused Absences or Missed Work

For Fall 2020, the Department of Communication will distinguish between excused and unexcused absences (or in some courses where traditional in-person attendance is not taken, excused and unexcused reasons for missing work).

S.R. 5.2.4.2 defines the following as acceptable reasons for excused absences: (a) serious illness (medical documentation may be required, see below), (b) illness or death of family member (documentation may be required), (c) University-related trips (see below), (d) major religious holidays (see below), (e) interviews for graduate/professional school or full-time employment post-graduation, and (f) other circumstances found to fit “reasonable cause for nonattendance” by the Instructor.

In order for an absence or missed work to be excused, students should contact their instructor no later than a week following their return to classes. In some cases, students may have official documentation to verify their excused absence/missed work (e.g., verification of a doctor visit, note from University Health Service, letter of accommodation from Disability Resource Center). However, students who are self-isolating or who choose not to attend class for precautionary reasons may NOT have official documentation. If no official documentation is available, instructors may accept emails from students as documentation for an excused absence or request another reasonable form of documentation. Students MUST contact their instructor to be excused from class or missed work.

Responsibility for Missed Information, Work and/or Exams

If you miss a class, you are responsible for obtaining information presented during that class session (this includes videos or notes). This is not the Instructor’s responsibility. For excused absences the Instructor shall give the student an opportunity to make up the work and/or the exams missed due to an excused absence, and shall do so, if feasible, during the semester in which the absence occurred [US:11/10/85 and RC: 11/20/87]. The Instructor is under no obligation to provide the student an opportunity to make up the work and/or exams for unexcused absences.

Withdrawals and Incompletes

For Fall 2020, we would like to be flexible in the number of excused absences allowed for each student. Although university policy states that students are strongly encouraged to withdraw (take a “W”) from the class when a student’s total EXCUSED absences exceed 1/5, or 20%, of the class periods scheduled for the semester, each instructor may work with a student with more than 20% excused absences to make up work if feasible. However, if the instructor determines that a student cannot feasibly make up work after missing more than 20% of class/assignments, the student shall have the right to receive a ‘W’, or the Instructor of Record may award an ‘I’ for the course if the student declines to receive a ‘W.’ [US: 2/9/87; RC: 11/20/87].