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LONGFORM Strict attendance policies adversely impact students

that they missed class for health reasons and provided the professor with a doctor’s note from Carle. There was a test in class on the day the student missed, but the professor did not allow the student to make it up.

“She said it was too fishy and that it was like I had planned this, even though I had a signed letter from Carle saying that I have a sinus infection and that I needed to stay home,” the student said.

Huff said he doesn’t need to know why students miss class because he wants to respect their privacy. He does not currently enforce an attendance policy because he believes they are ableist.

“I used to actually have an attendance policy,” Huff said. “I can’t believe it when I think back on it.”

Huff said his mind was changed after a student talked to him about attendance policies.

“I had a student who was a chair user who came up to me one day after class and he said, ‘You know, disabled kids never got the attendance award in school, right?’” Huff said. “It made me realize that I was rewarding students who had the ability to come to class everyday and that not all students had that ability. I was being ableist in that policy.”

Thakur said having a disability makes attending class a more complicated process for her than for others. She wants faculty to understand that there are many factors that go into a student missing class, and it’s different for every student.

“It presents a lot of issues for me,” Thakur said. “Sensory issues are a big one. I feel like as soon as I leave my dorm, I was asking for a lot for the day. Like, riding the bus over to campus, the volume and lack of space … was kind of debilitating for me.

“That was a hurdle I had to cross every single time I had to go to class. And the amount of brainpower that takes up doesn’t really leave a lot for actual learning.

“I felt so guilty, you know? I don’t think anybody who’s in these sorts of situations wants to be; we’re not slacking off. We don’t want to not come to class and then miss out on whatever everybody is learning … It’s just like being backed into a corner.”

Thakur has accommodations from Disability Resources & Educational Services (DRES) but has had issues

“If I said I was sick, I was probably f****** sick.”

Deveshi Thakur, student in Engineering on retroactive medical leave

with an accommodation that allows her one day extensions or alternative assignments if her disability prevents her from functioning for a day. Her DRES specialist told her that she may run into issues using the accommodation within the Department of Computer Science.

“She said one of the (other) students she worked with … had struggled with something,” Thakur said. “They were trying to make use of that accommodation. When they reached out to the professor, the professor argued. You’re legally not allowed to deny a student use of them. So then the specialist had to email this professor back and forth for two weeks.

“Just the thought of having to engage in something like that stressed me out so much that, in my mind, as soon as she said that, I was like ‘OK, so I’m never gonna use this.’”

Thakur’s health declined during the Spring 2022 semester, which is why she is currently on retroactive medical leave. She said she performed well on tests and did classwork, but it was her attendance that brought her grades down. She felt that her transcript was not an accurate reflection of the work she put in for the semester.

“Sometimes, I still wonder if it would have been manageable if the environment didn’t feel so hostile,” Thakur said. “I really feel like the College of Engineering, when it comes to things like these, is a lot less accommodating. The culture they cultivate, it doesn’t seem very compassionate at all.”

Another student who wished to remain anonymous was sexually assaulted in 2021, and in an unrelated incident, their apartment was broken into by a stranger having a schizophrenic episode. The student is diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, depression and PTSD.

The morning after the stranger broke into the student’s apartment, the student emailed their professor

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regarding a quiz due the next day. They asked for an extension and explained that they had one of their worst panic attacks to date because of the upsetting night. The professor was not accommodating.

“He basically told me that it would be unfair to other students in the class if I was given an extension … I received a zero on the quiz,” the student said.

The student currently has DRES accommodations but did not at the time of the incident.

“I think it’s absolute bullshit that a student would need to get accommodations in order for a professor to treat their mental health or physical health seriously,” the student said. “I would love to be a normal human with no depression, no anxiety, no PTSD based on my sexual assault, but I’m not. I was given this lot, I can’t change it. I have to deal with it,”

Funck said that the University is more about everyone working for themselves. Likewise, Thakur thinks students should be responsible for their own attendance.

“At the end of the day, everybody that comes to college comes after having turned 18, for the most part, we’re all adults, so it should be on us,” Thakur said.

Funck thinks the student should always be the priority.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the student, not the professor,” Funck said.