When policy overlooks people: Rethinking NGU’s attendance rules
Treasure Hardwick, Staff Writer
Life rarely moves on a convenient schedule. Grief, celebration and commitments often come unexpectedly. While NGU’s attendance policy works well most of the time, it falls short when students face the kinds of moments that need compassion the most.
At North Greenville University, the motto “Christ makes the difference” seems to ensure an atmosphere where every student is met with compassion and care. However, NGU’s rigid attendance policy sometimes falls short of this comforting motto and mission.
Students are allowed four unexcused absences in a three-day-a-week class, and three in a two-day-a-week class. Once a student uses all of their absences, their professor will issue an XF warning, which means the student cannot miss another class without an excuse. If the student does miss, their professor will issue an XF grade, meaning the student fails the class.
According to the NGU handbook, students may be excused if they offer documentation related to the military, legal obligations, an athletic or academic excursion, a medical condition or a family death or medical emergency.
While this number of unexcused absences seems fair because it holds students accountable and ensures that they receive all the information they need for each class, the problem lies in how the policy handles major and personal events in student’s lives.
Under NGU’s current attendance policy, only family member funerals or weddings (with early notice), may be counted as excused.
These strict limitations exclude students from attending important moments like the funeral of a friend or the wedding and celebration of a person they love and cherish.
These limitations have emotionally harmed students at NGU, making their painful situations even more challenging and complicated.
Instead of being met with grace and compassion, these students were told that they will not receive an excuse for their necessary absence. These rigid rules led to more hurt and confusion in the student’s life, contradicting NGU’s motto of “Christ makes the difference.”
Many private colleges in SC set similar basic attendance limits. For example, Anderson University’s academic handbook states that students should miss no more class periods than the number of times the course meets each week. However, the handbook states that excused (or unexcused) absences are left up to the discretion and compassion of the professor.
This allows for the professor to meet a student in a moment of deep need and to offer compassion. It also leaves room for connection and trust to be established.
NGU’s strict approach results in professors missing real opportunities to care for their students.
Therefore, NGU should revise its attendance policy to allow students to request excused absences for real-life events.
Professors should be encouraged, or required, to consider individual student situations thoughtfully and with compassion. This change would not lower academic accountability and standards, but instead it would create an atmosphere where people come before procedure, and where Christ does truly make a difference.
If Christ makes a difference, then compassion should too.
Photo courtesy of Scott Graham on Unsplash
