The Facts: The University regulations contain a vague attendance policy; however, it is not enforced by professors in a consistent manner.

Our Opinion: To fix this situation, N.C . State should produce a constant policy on attendance that they can enforce and hold students and faculty to.

It’s the end of the semester, and students are counting their skip days, disguising their sick days and hoping one teacher has forgotten to take attendance, while another won’t notice them slinking into class 10 minutes late. While every class supposedly has an attendance policy requiring professors to take attendance, some professors are more strict about the policy than others.

Some professors take attendance and provide a bonus at the end of the semester for those students who have met the requirement. Others penalize students for not attending class by deducting points from students’ final grades or even dropping them from the class.

The University policy on attendance states, “Instructors in 100- and 200-level course must keep a record of attendance throughout the semester.” It goes further to say, “Instructors may use reasonable academic penalties…” This vagueness allows professors to have wiggle-room on their attendance policy, which can help or hurt students in the long-run.

The insane policies that drop students from the course after a certain number of absences only hurts the students who are doing well in the class.

Odds are, if a student who doesn’t care misses class, they will fail the finals and fail the class. So why give them the benefit of dropping them from the course? This issue could be resolved by formulating a policy without a set number of absences or to broaden the restrictions on excused absences. By doing this, the University will allow students to have one or two sick days, but also a mental health day.

Along with this, make the policy so that it treats students like adults, rather than high school students. Let us be accountable for coming or not coming to class. This does not need to be dictated by a policy dropping us from the course.  

To rectify this gray area across class sections, the University should mandate a uniform attendance policy and enforce it throughout all courses and course levels. This policy should be just as quickly added to syllabi across the University as the clause on students with disabilities.

This can be ensured by having the University Courses and Curricula Committee head up an initiative to create and enforce a university-wide policy for attendance. This committee is supposed to ensure every class has a syllabus, and that it meets the students’ and courses’ needs. To further their mission at our university, hold them accountable for enforcing the professors to maintain the policy.

By doing this, students would not have to feel the unnecessary pressures of attendance. The pressures of classes themselves are quite enough. The University could create a plan to fit its needs while benefiting its students. Don’t let attendance hurt students, but rather let it help them.