Attendance policies vary across campus

Students start every semester with new classmates, new professors and a new syllabus. And one of the first items on the syllabus that draws a student's eye is the professor's attendance policy, which never seems to be consistent. Unfortunately, this causes confusion among students, who are forced to keep up with these various policies.

Brittany Lewis, 21, double English major from Mount Sterling, said the majority of her courses allow her to miss two to three days, dropping a letter grade for anymore than four days.

"I think that for the students who live on campus it's pretty fair, but it can become complicated when you're a commuter," Lewis said. "The struggles with students who have children are never really discussed when it comes to making the attendance policy."

Donald Varakin, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, allows his students to miss up to two class periods per semester without losing attendance points. After each class period, the student has 10 points deducted from the attendance grade portion.

"If you miss two classes, you've missed a week," Varakin said. "It just seemed reasonable."

Varakin takes into account personal excuses for missing class, such as a recent break-up, but he also takes into account the possibility of him having to cancel classes for personal reasons of his own.

Unlike other professors, however, Varakin does not automatically fail students for missing too many class periods.

"People who miss more than six classes, most fail anyway," Varakin said. "None of my students who have missed six classes have earned an A. The average grade for students who miss that much class is a F."

Varakin does agree with the Registrar's Office's "Use It or Lose It" policy, which states students who miss the first day of a class are automatically dropped from the course all together, unless the professor is notified in advance.

"The first day is important because that's the only day where a substantial portion of the class is spent talking about class policy," Varakin said. "If the class is full and there are other people who want to take the class, they should be allowed to participate."

Students also seem to agree with the "Use It or Lose It" policy.

"Students need to get a good semester started off by going to class the first day," Lewis said. "Plus, it helps divide the students who want to take the course from the ones that don't."

"If you don't want to sit in class, there's always someone who could have filled your spot who would have been in class," said Taracita Peake, 19, psychology major from Lexington.

Lewis thinks students with extenuating circumstances, such as children or a long-term illness, should be given leniency.

Lewis agrees with the university's policy about each department and professor being allowed to create their own attendance policy because otherwise it could "be more difficult for the professors and the students both to follow."

Though Peake does strongly agree with the attendance policy at Eastern, she does think it could be improved for those dealing with emergencies. In the case of attendance, Peake believes ignorance would be bliss.

"It would probably be better if they didn't tell us how many classes we could miss before we fail," Peake said. "I think it gives some people an excuse to miss classes."

Some students, however, are conflicted about their feelings toward a university-wide attendance policy.

"It's good because it inspires people to go to class, but at the same time, they're adults and need to make their own choices," said Dawson Helton, 20, music marketing major from Blanchester, Ohio.

But Helton said even if his professors did not require attendance as part of his grade, he would "still go to class for the information."

Whether professors are strict or very lenient on attendance, students are forced to manage these changes every semester.