ABSENCES

Students are expected to attend classes regularly. Although the College does not impose any automatic administrative penalties for a reasonable number of absences from class or laboratory, instructors may impose such penalties for their individual courses or set other specific policies about attendance and punctuality. Students should understand that they are responsible for the academic consequences of absence.

Absences from Examinations

If a student is unable to take an exam at the regularly scheduled time, the instructor may require that the student receive permission from a dean in the Office for Undergraduate Education to schedule a makeup test. Approval will be granted only for illnesses or other compelling reasons, and the student must provide documentation of the reason to OUE.

This policy applies to any quiz, test, exam, or midterm worth 20% or more of the final course grade as well as any final exam. For exams worth less than 20%, OUE will not be involved, and instructors should use their judgment in determining whether to give a makeup exam or not.

In cases where an absence from an exam falls under the University-Authorized Activity Absence policy (8.19), the Religious Accommodation policy (10.17), or accommodations granted from the Department of Accessibility Services, the instructor must provide a makeup exam or other suitable alternative. 

If a student receives an incomplete grade as the result of a missed exam, the makeup exam must be taken during the student’s next semester of residence by the incomplete grade deadline as published in the Registrar’s calendar or within twelve months if the student does not re-enroll in the College.

Failure to complete an exam by the appropriate deadline will result automatically in a grade of zero on the exam.  It may also result in a final course grade of IF or IU if the student’s grade, factoring a zero on the exam, is not sufficient to pass the course. 

A student who takes any part of an exam will not be allowed to make up or retake that exam.

Approved by the Curriculum and Educational Policy Committee, December 17, 2025.