Each attendance policy is professorial debauchery. On one hand, a professor who respects the fact that you pay to come to class and if you choose not to, well, that’s your prerogative. On the other hand, the professor who dictates a grade based on the number of absences, no matter hospital visits or hangovers. Both extremes have their merits, but there is unquestionably injustice when a student receives an “A” on every assignment and exam yet receives a “B” in the course. As a disabled student, I have now experienced two classes that have resulted in a “B” due to my medical absences (which in total is less than five absences per MWF class). For those professors with the “an absence is an absence is an absence” mantra, the grading philosophy seems to be one rooted in distrust for students. Here’s the run-down: We know the deal. In the absence of an absence policy, we realize that it is not advantageous for us to be absent and in the end, our exam grades will certainly reflect our failure to get out of bed. Perhaps the professors with absence policies have never had to deal with waking up to paralyzed legs, blinding vision from blood sugar spikes, or the inability to stop baby seizures so that the walk to class won’t be a life-threatening one. Final grades should take into consideration that sometimes absences are our beyond our control.

Ashley Coulter

Mount Washington sophomore