Class Attendance

Non-Attendance of Developmental Education Classes

Instructors may submit a request to the Registrar's Office to administratively drop students who enroll in developmental-educational courses and who have missed a total of four (4) class meetings of the course. Instructors must drop the student at least seven (7) days prior to the last day to drop a course for the semester or session. (See “Administrative Drop”). The instructor may drop the student from the course only after he or she has mailed a letter to the address on file, notifying  the student of the enrollment status. Instructors describe specific attendance policies in course syllabi.

Administrative Drop Policy

Beginning with the first class day of the semester/session, faculty should report to the Registrar’s Office via the preliminary class roster and/or email communication, by a date established by the Registrar’s Office, any student who has not been in attendance in face to face classes, or who has not logged into Blackboard for an online class.

An administrative drop will be initiated by the Registrar’s Office for those students reported by the instructor as being in non-attendance.  The Registrar’s Office will notify students by certified mail and/or email that an administrative drop has been initiated and they should contact their instructor immediately. If the instructor does not rescind the request in writing within seven (7) days of documentable receipt of the notification, the Registrar’s Office will drop the student from the class.  Faculty who fail to submit an administrative drop by the established deadline, must record the grade earned by the student at the end of the semester.  Faculty submitting a grade of F for a student will be required to enter the last date of attendance during the grading cycle.  Subsequent to the census date final roster, all drops during the semester must be student initiated.

Student Absences on Religious Holidays

In accordance with Texas Education Code 51.911, all institutions of higher education shall excuse a student from attending classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holiday, including travel for that purpose. An instructor may not penalize a student whose absence is excused under this subsection for that absence, and the instructor must allow the student to take an examination or complete an assignment within a reasonable time after the absence.

Texas Education Code 51.911 defines a religious holiday as a holiday a religious group whose places of worship are exempt from property taxation under Section 11.20, Tax Code observes. If a student and an instructor disagree about the nature of the absence as Texas Education Code 51.911 defines, or if the student and the instructor disagree about whether the instructor has given the student a reasonable time to complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the student or the instructor may request a ruling from the chief executive officer or his or her designee of the institution. The student and instructor shall abide by the decision of the chief executive officer or his or her designee.

If a student’s academic course work includes patient care, the university may exclude from these policies and procedures any student absence for religious holidays, which may interfere with patient care.

Inclement Weather

Because of the large number of students who live within 10 miles of the campus, the university will remain open and classes will continue during severe weather conditions except when the weather adversely affects the normal operation of the university.

Occasions occur when road conditions make travel dangerous for students. The university expects students to exercise good judgment during inclement weather. Instructors will not penalize students who find travel during inclement weather impossible.

Whenever officials make a decision to curtail some phase of operations, officials will make that information available to the news media for broadcast on radio stations and television stations as well as by the campus-wide Eagle Alert, which notifies students and faculty through text messaging and non-campus e-mail.