Professors would have to approve students’ requests to miss class to observe religious holidays if the University Senate passes a proposal to clarify the academic policy allowing students to make up homework and exams missed for religious observance.
The policy would bar professors from questioning a student’s reasons for missing class due to a religious observance – regardless of how obscure the religion – as long as the student tells professors of his or her plans within the first two weeks of the semester.
Also, professors would only be required to excuse students on the actual date of their religious holiday, not days missed for traveling.
The measure would allow faculty to schedule exams and assignments efficiently and run classes more smoothly, said senators on the executive committee. The senators placed the proposal on the agenda for the March 13 full-body meeting, when they will vote on whether to approve it.
Under the current policy, a student can skip an exam or assignment and later claim they did so to observe a religious holiday, according to the proposal. The proposed changes would prevent such fraudulent behavior.
“There’s no way to evaluate who is a true religious observer and who’s not,” said Amy Brown, chairwoman of the committee that drafted the proposal and a professor in the entomology department.
In addition, professors would not have to schedule multiple make-up exams for different students missing class for the same holiday.
Students on the campus practice a wide array of religions, and the proposal would prevent faculty from attempting to subjectively distinguish if a student’s request was authentic, she said. While members of her committee discussed the possibility of students abusing this change, she said they concluded the benefit to a dishonest student would be minimal.
“If you skip a day to observe a religious holiday, you still have to make up the work,” Brown said. “It’s not as if it’s giving you a way to make the class easier for yourself.”
Committee members also recognized requiring professors to only excuse work missed on holiday dates may be contentious for students, but they could see no way to draft a policy to fairly allot time for travel.
“If you start allowing travel – how much?” she said. “We don’t know of any religious holidays that require you to make a trip somewhere to observe your religion. If you’re truly observing religious holiday, you can probably do it by taking the day off, not working, perhaps attending services.”
Senators on the executive committee briefly discussed the challenge posed by some Jewish holidays – which begin in the evening of one day and extend to the evening of the next – but concluded those would likely be accommodated. Brown also said allowances would be made for holidays such as Eid, which Muslims observe to mark the end of Ramadan. The exact date varies each year because the Muslim calendar follows lunar cycles. In that case, students would inform their professors they planned to observe the holiday and provide an update when the exact date became apparent, she said.
Contact reporter Kate Campbell at campbelldbk@gmail.com.
