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Focus February 17, 2000 13 Paying to sleep in: Students choosing sleep over class attendance Tammy Tripp The Pendulum The scenario is a familiar one. The alarm goes off, the bed is warm and you wonder for the third morn ing in a row if you really need to go to class. According to most depart mental attendance policies, the an swer is yes. For most departments, after a set amount of absences, students are penalized by a mark down in grades. But not all students think an attendance policy is appropriate in college. "There's no reason for an at tendance policy in college," one student said. "If I want to fail then that's my choice and I'm paying for that choice. If people don't show up, you just have a small group experience." Findings on Elon’s campus say that there is indeed a strong relationship between attendance and success or failure in the classroom. Those who do not go to class tend to get lower grades. "I think your grades reflect how often you go to class," sopho more J.P. Kully said. "But you shouldn't be double penalized." Class attendance policy is a familiar argument. Those against dent is mature enough to go to col lege, they should be mature enough to go to class if they so choose. Unfortunately it is not this simple - especially on a campus the size of Elon’s. Classes can be small with under 10 people. Those who are in favor of attendance policies say that if several students do not show up, the class learning experi ence is lost. “I think the attendance policy M is fair,” sophomore Claire Evans said. “If you’re serious about what you’re going to school for, you want to be there. The adult thing lo do would be to come to class.” Many say that whether or not a student should be forced to go to class depends on both the class and the stu dent. This is an issue pro fessors are divided on as well. English professor Robert Blake says he expects his stu dents to be mature enough to come to class on their own. However, he also says that he feel' compulsory atten dance for freshmen and sophomores arc far more im portant than for juniors or seniors. Most Elon professors have some sort of policy. Communications professor Tom Nelson strictly enforces the JCM department’s pol icy of no more than three ab sences per semester. “The department man dates it, so I mandate it,” he said. “It’s a private school and parents are paying for a little extra kick in the pants. This is part of that kick.” ramiiiar argument, inose agamsi 't the idea think that if a college stu- Students push to be given seats on Va. public college’s boards Alice Warchol they would have some kind of rep- nature of the relationship of the “It is not always wise to have tatives from “discussions ol lac Alice Warchol Knight-Ridder Tribune A group of student leaders from Virginia public colleges is pushing legislation that would give students the right to sit on univer sity governing boards. Three bills, all containing similar language, would amend Virginia’s code to require state uni versities to appoint one or more students to their boards of visitors if they don ’ t already have student rep resentation. The students couldn’t vote, but they would be able to partici pate in most university discussions. “If a student can sit on a stu dent conduct hearing, why couldn’ t they serve on a board of visitors?” asked Tommy R. Smigiel, student body president at Old Dominion University. Smigiel and 14 students from four universities visited Richmond last week to find a sponsor for their legislation. They found support in the Senate and the House. Since it’s the student and his parent that are providing all the funding, it seems reasonable that they would have some kind of rep resentation on the board of visi tors,” said Del. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, author of one of the bills. Other sponsors are from Northern and western Virginia. Some universities — James Madison, George Mason, Univer sity of Virginia and Mary Washing ton — already have student board members. The legislation, if passed, would extend to all state colleges. I think it’s a good idea be cause the university is about stu dents and not the politics that have come into it,” said Levi E. Willis, student government president at Norfolk State University. The real reason for this uni versity is students,” the junior said. “We need a voice in every place possible.” At one time, ODU’s board Rector Edward L. Hamm Jr. thought that way, too. He proposed having faculty members and students on the Board of Visitors three years ago, but be came convinced that “it possibly would create more problems than it would cure.” One reason had to do with the nature of the relationship of the president to students. “There are a lot of sensitive issues and confidential issues that public boards handle such as presi dential compensation and evalua tion of the president,” Hamm said. “It is not always wise to have people for whom the president is responsible for evaluating the presi dent or being party to those sensi tive discussions.” The bills would allow any board to exclude student represen tatives from “discussions of fac ulty grievances, faculty or staff dis ciplinary matter or salaries.” But they do not specify if university presidents are consid ered part of the faculty. Is there an issue you would like to see Focus cover? Email Pendulum6elon.edu or call us at extension photos by Tammy Tripp
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Feb. 17, 2000, edition 1
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