Bereavement policy
Dealing with the loss of a loved one: It’s something that more than a third of college students have experienced within the past two years. With all of the psychological hardships associated with death, you would think college campuses across this country would be making a firm effort to create flexible bereavement policies, but this isn’t quite true.
According to a 2007 Georgetown University study, only about 13 percent of schools sampled had a policy on faculty flexibility with bereaved students, while only a minuscule 3 percent had an academic bereavement leave policy for students to begin with. Though many changes may have occurred since 2007, these small percentages should be concerning.
Recently, the University Senate Executive Committee sent a Student Bereavement Procedure proposal draft to the Academic Procedures and Standards Committee for review. If the proposed policy is approved by the senate, it would provide five days off for students in mourning, with an extra two days if a student needs to travel. Currently, there is no bereavement policy for students, while there is a bereavement leave policy in place for staff members.
Although the specific language of the policy still needs to be decided and modifications might be made, the general idea of this proposal is something students should be able to get behind.
Mourning the death of a loved one is hard to do when you have to juggle schoolwork, exams and extracurriculars on the side. From an emotional perspective alone, this seems difficult, but data back this up as well.
According to a study published in The Journal on College Student Development, “A student’s GPA significantly decreases during the semester of loss, providing empirical support for the assertion that bereaved students are at risk for declined academic performance.”
A study in Omega: Journal of Death and Dying also found, for between 10 percent and 15 percent of the bereaved, “a debilitating and prolonged form of grief can pose severe long-term risks for psychological and physical health.”
A student’s semester in which he or she loses a loved one seems to show declines in academic achievement and psychological health. Though we are not arguing for the university to give a semesterlong bereavement period to students mourning, perhaps a guarantee of five to seven days off — during the start of grieving — could help students get back on their feet.
As a university that also excuses absences for religious holidays, it should not hesitate to allow absences for circumstances in which students attend religious funerals. For instance, in Judaism, the tradition of sitting shiva after a death involves seven days of mourning.
Opponents of this type of policy might say it gives students too much power in the excused absence process or allows opportunities for students to skip class. However, the policy asserts that any student who wishes to use it must provide ample proof (through an obituary, copy of a death certificate, funeral service program or signed letter from a funeral home — all documents that would be difficult to fake.
One key question we should be asking ourselves is, why do staff members get a bereavement policy, but students don’t? Are students who lose a loved one worth any less than staff members who do?
Arguments about specifics do not have any value now, as we do not know what the details of this policy would be until the proposal passes. Until then, this editorial board stands behind the SEC and hopes to see positive changes to help students deal with the mourning process.
