Attendance Guidelines for Student-Athletes

Student athletes must make it their priority to register, where possible, for classes in patterns that do not conflict with their published athletic schedules.

“Regular and punctual attendance is an essential part of the educational program” (2009-2010 Undergraduate Catalog, p. 49). Since it is possible that student athletes might be absent from class because of scheduled or unscheduled athletic events, it is critical that they make every reasonable effort to avoid any other absences. While some faculty members might allow for a limited number of absences as part of their attendance policy, absences due to participation in athletic events are not to be viewed by student athletes as additions to the number of absences permitted by the faculty member.

During the first week of classes, the Director of Academic Advising will provide instructors with a list of in-season student athletes and copies of all scheduled athletic events for the semester.

Recognizing that the College must address the need to enable student athletes to participate in scheduled and unscheduled athletic competition, adjustments must be made to enable student athletes to fulfill their academic responsibilities. Therefore, when student athletes have a scheduled competition that conflicts with a class, they will obtain any assignment(s) given during that class from the professor. In the event that students will miss an assessment, i.e., quiz, test, presentation or exam, students must meet with the faculty member prior to the event to arrange for possible alternative evaluations developed with the instructor.

Student athletes will be responsible for providing their instructors with written confirmation from the Director of Academic Advising of their participation in athletics events no less than 48 hours prior to the scheduled contest. In the case of rescheduled or playoff events, instructors may be contacted by email by the Director of Academic Advisement in order to facilitate notification in as timely a manner as feasible. The standard procedure for instructor notification is as follows:

1. Student/athlete meets with the instructor with letter and schedule in hand.

2. Instructor completes the required form(s) and signs and dates two copies of the schedule.

3. Instructor retains one copy for their records.

4. Student hand-delivers second copy to the Director of Academic Advisement.

The departure times for all athletic contests will be established by the Athletic Department Administration, in coordination with the Director of Academic Advising.

To mitigate against abuse of this policy by student-athletes through intentional misrepresentation of the facts, a violation will be considered an infraction of the Academic Integrity Policy, as published in the Undergraduate Catalog.