By Nicole Haas

Rarely does a student enter a class at Buffalo State College that does not have an attendance policy. But are attendance policies fair to students, especially when it can have an effect on one’s final grade?

According to the Academic Affairs Office web site: “There is no uniform attendance policy set by the college. Attendance regulations are established by each instructor and will be distributed at the start of each semester.”
BSC does not verify attendance of its students, only enrollment.

Classes that require more hands-on participation such as performing arts, design and lab courses tend to allow for fewer absences. Missing such a class causes a student to miss subtantial course material not obtainable through course readings or copied notes.

An informal survey of both students and professors showed that many agree with strict attendance policies for such classes. It would seem that the most resistance by students to attendance policies lies with those courses in which students simply take notes or listen to lectures.

Journalism major Christina DeStefano believes it is fair that a student be penalized for missed class work and assignments but not for simply missing a lecture.

“I think professors should tell students that a class involves a certain amount of work; ‘You be here if you want to learn, if you’re not here, then that’s up to you.’ ”

According to DeStefano’s collection of past syllabi, there are certain acceptable reasons for missing a class that do not include the excuse “I don’t feel like it.”

Some of the most acceptable are:
• sickness
• family emergency
• car trouble
• appointments (doctor, dentist, etc.)
• work conflicts

“If you’re out of gas, that’s not a reasonable excuse,” says business major Gregory Bayerl, who believes that professors should set a reasonable attendance policy for students.
A reasonable policy to both Bayerl and DeStefano would be three to four missed classes for Tuesday, Thursday courses. Four to six classes for Monday, Wednesday, Friday courses.

When students are unable to meet such requirements, Bayerl believes professors should first speak with a student in the form of a warning before deducting letter grades. If after the warning a student keeps missing class with no reasonable excuse, only then does Bayerl believe a student’s grade should suffer.

Charles Mancuso, a music professor in the performing arts department, agrees.

“I don’t like taking grades away,” says Mancuso.
Mancuso describes himself as liberal when it comes to attendance policies and says that if a student does the work, he will not penalize a student for missing a lecture.

“I don’t walk in students’ shoes,” says Mancuso.

Nicole Haas can be reached at haasnm15@buffalostate.edu