Remember the first day of classes? The professor went over the basic assignment guidelines and due dates along with brushing over the attendance policies. You were most likely informed you could only miss a certain number of classes due to unexcused absences, but that in some cases the university would excuse you.
A member of my family who has been overseas for almost a year serving in the military has been granted leave for the third week of March. I emailed all my professors the circumstances, quite confident that the university would include military circumstances for family members in their list of reasons for excused absences. I was surprised when all of my professors regretfully responded that family members’ military duties would not grant me an excused absence, only my own “required participation in military duties."
I was shocked. I was not willing to give up my one opportunity to see this family member, so decided I would have to save up all my unexcused absences this semester to use during that third week in March. So last week, when I was sick with a cold and fever, I still dragged myself to class in order to not use up a single one of those precious unexcused absences.
Military leave of family members needs to be included in the list of reasons for excused absences. In a city that prides itself on being military-friendly, the university needs to make sure that those with loved ones in that military are able to see them whenever they can.
Another circumstance that is not on the list of reasons for excused absences is family weddings. My brother just called me with the date of his wedding this fall and I realized that I am going to have to save up all my unexcused absences next semester as well in order to make it. A wedding doesn’t mean only one missed day of class: it means at least three or four days, since I’m in the wedding party and the wedding is in Wisconsin.
I know I can save up all my unexcused absences and make it to these events, but I believe they should both be on the list of university excused absences. If an athlete can miss a class or two to make it to a game, I should be able to miss the same amount in order to see a military family member after a year apart or the once-in-a-lifetime event of a wedding.