A student may miss class only for good cause, such as (1) sickness which disables the student from attending class or poses a significant threat to the health of others; (2) sickness of, or accident involving, a spouse or dependent, which requires the student to be with the spouse or dependent; (3) an accident which necessarily prevents the student’s attendance in class; (4) the death of a family member or friend; (5) an interview for a summer clerkship or for a permanent position after graduation, if the interview cannot reasonably be scheduled to avoid conflict; (6) a meeting or event at which the student must appear as a representative of the law school; or (7) other good cause as is warranted under the circumstances. Deadlines for activities such as Law Review, moot court, or other course assignments do not constitute good cause for missing class.
A student who is absent for any reason from more than the equivalent of three (50-minute) class hours per semester credit hour in a course may be dropped from the roll or not allowed to sit for the exam and receive an “F” for the course. In the case of a four-credit course that normally meets three times a week, this generally means that a student can miss no more than eight class sessions in a given semester. In most other instances, a student can miss no more than the equivalent of three weeks of class in a given semester. If a student’s absences exceed three class hours per semester credit, the Dean, after consulting with the professor, will determine whether the student will be withdrawn without a penalty or not be allowed to sit for the exam and receive an “F” for the course.
A professor may enact a more strict attendance policy than the above; an announcement of such a policy must be made at the beginning of the semester. In seminars and workshops it is likely that no absences will be permitted without a review of the reasons therefore.
When a student has missed more than three class hours per semester credit hour or has exceeded the number of absences allowed by the professor (when the professor adopts a stricter policy) all absences from class in that course are subject to review. The Dean reviews the student’s absences to determine the reasonableness of each absence and of all absences considered as a whole. If the Dean determines that the absences are for good cause and that it is in the best interest of the student to allow the student to complete the course during that semester, no sanction will be imposed.
The normal sanction for failure to comply with the attendance policy is to not allow the student to sit for the exam and receive and “F” in the course. However, with the Dean’s permission, the student’s grade as otherwise determined in that course may be lowered as the sanction in extraordinary circumstances.
Students are charged with knowledge of this information.
Although it is not the general practice to do so, class participation or lack thereof may be considered in determining the student’s final course grade, provided the professor has given the class due notice. In courses other than seminars and workshops the professor may raise or lower a student’s grade as otherwise determined in that course, not more than one-third of a letter grade for class participation or lack thereof. In seminars class participation or lack thereof may not count for more than 50% of the final course grade. In workshops class participation or lack thereof may be the sole determinant of the grade.
For serious failure on the part of the student to participate in class as required by the professor, the student may be dropped from the course.
Students are expected to arrive for class in a timely manner. If a student is late in getting to class, the professor has the discretion to determine whether to count the student as present.
