The Inequity of Strict Attendance Policies

Zane Khiry ’25 Staff Writer

There are a number of professors at Amherst who will dock your grade proportionally to the number of class meetings you miss: be absent twice, and your A becomes an A-; miss class three times, and you’re brought down a whole letter grade. The harm these policies cause disadvantaged students — often forcing them to make the impossible decision between academic success and their own wellbeing — cannot be understated, and faculty must recognize that their strict attendance policies are inequitable. It is time we do away with them in pursuit of a more just and equitable curriculum.

Professors often base these policies on an idealized notion of the college experience: the idea that we students are here, first and foremost, for academics — and, to their credit, many of us are. A large portion of Amherst students come to campus with the economic privilege to be able to solely focus on their schoolwork. They’re motivated, excellent, and relatively unobstructed in their intellectu- al pursuits. The problem, however, begins when this isn’t the case.

These policies harm the students who don’t have the privilege of engaging in academic life without external constraints: namely, first generation low-income (FLI) students, students with mental illnesses, students with disabilities, and students with other severe health conditions. It is important to note here that these students are still motivated, excellent, and worthy. However, through no fault of their own, they are unable to put as much time and focused energy into academic life as their peers. Strict attendance policies only harm them — as they are made to choose between their grades and their own well-being.

These policies sometimes force FLI students into a predicament in which they have to choose between financial security and academic success. Additionally, students with pressing health concerns are made to sacrifice their wellbeing for the same reason. In both cases, students are prompted to make an impossible choice between caring for themselves and succeeding academically. The undue stress this