Students may need to make sure they’re back on campus before classes start, or run the risk of having courses dropped from their schedule.

If a Student Senate proposal goes into effect next fall, students who miss their first two class meetings without an excuse will be cut from the course unless they contact the professor ahead of time. The proposal has already gained support from some campus administrators. 

This new rule, called the force drop policy, is meant to help students who find themselves stuck on the waiting list for classes they need to graduate. Passed by Student Government last year, the policy would alleviate waiting list woes by preventing absentee students from filling up class space.

According to the bill, there are as many as 400 absentee students who “fail all their classes due to never setting foot in class.” Student Sen. Emerson Barker, a sophomore in political science, hopes the absentee spots can be filled with motivated students who need the course and make better use of class time.

But empty desks filled with absent students are not the only obstacle in the way of students searching for classes; course availability has also gone down because of looming budget cuts. With a smaller number of class seats, it is even more challenging for students to find the classes they need.

Student Government hopes the policy will enable students motivated enough to attend class to meet their degree requirements on schedule.

Professors who are unable or unwilling to regularly take attendance in larger classes make it easier for students to skip class. But by asking professors to only take attendance on the first two class days, Student Government hopes to decrease the number of empty seats from the start of a semester.

“As budget cuts happen next year, the number of seats will tighten up,” Barker said. “We’re looking for a way to fill up those seats.”

The force drop policy will require professors to take attendance for the first two days of class. The professor will then report all students who are listed with unexcused absences for both days to the Office of Registration and Records, which will drop them from the course.

However, if students find their summer plans are in conflict with the start of the semester, they can avoid losing their classes by contacting the professor ahead of time. Professors would have the power to prevent individual students from being dropped and would be allowed to practice discretion.

Although Student Government intended to begin enforcing the policy at the beginning of the 2010 fall semester, the University never fully implemented it. Student Sen. Abbi Davis, a junior in psychology, and Barker believe the College of Humanities and Social Sciences may have begun enforcing the policy in some of its departments. The implementation phase of the policy got caught up among other agenda items, however, and never took off. Student Government will now begin work to ensure the policy becomes universal throughout all classes.

Student Government has now gained the support of CHASS Dean Jeffery Braden and interim Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Victoria Gallagher in moving the policy forward, aiming to begin the enforcement of the policy at the beginning of the 2011 fall semester.  

Barker said he hopes the policy will become a good no-cost solution that will empower driven students and “help them graduate on time in the face of budget cuts.”