An amendment granting PNW instructors the ability to allow or not allow excused absences due to university- related activities was added to the current attendance policy on Dec. 9.

The amendment requires students to present their athletic or university-sponsored event schedule to their instructors at the beginning of the semester. In response to the schedule provided by the student, the instructor then has the choice to allow or not allow the student to miss the class on the dates requested.

Anthony Elmendorf, chair of student affairs committee, said that this amendment to the policy is designed to clarify the responsibilities of the three parties involved— the organization that happens to be sponsoring the event, the student involved and the instructor of the class.

“The important part of the policy is that the party that actually determines what happens is the instructor of the class,” Elmendorf said.

An activity that presents a conflict between students and classes is certified either as university recognized or not university recognized by the provost. If the activity is certified as a university- recognized event, then the provost office generates an absence form for the students involved, and this form is presented to the instructor.

Elmendorf said the role of the provost is to act as a clearinghouse, meaning that the event presented to the instructor is certified as a legitimate university activity that the student is asking to take part in.

“The instructor needs to sign the document that comes from the provost office and this protects the student from any of sort of retaliatory action from the sponsoring body,” Elmendorf said. “Students can show the piece of paper and say ‘look the instructor said no and said so on this piece of paper, so I have to go to class; I can’t take part in this activity.’”

Elmendorf said that the original document surfaced two years ago and was at that time focused solely on the attendance of athletes. The document was then modified to include all students who are attending university- sanctioned events.

Melissa Sida Diaz, Hammond SGA president, said that she wanted to make

sure students such as athletes can attend their athletic requirements but not be punished due to an absence from a required event.

“I am also hoping to show the value of other extracurricular events to be built in a policy where students may also be able to attend great learning opportunities such as conferences with an organization as an excused absence,” Sida Diaz said.

The amendment document states that “if class time and a university activity have conflicting schedules, students cannot be penalized by the university activity authority for missing the university activity because they attend class.” This includes students with athletic scholarships.

Elmendorf said that the change of policy protects the student and puts the power in the hands of the instructor.

“It is simply a matter of having a clear policy in place and having clear lines of communication between athletic staff and the faculty who are acting as instructors in the courses in which student-athletes are enrolled,” Elmendorf said.

Rick Costello, athletic director, could not be reached for a comment.