Case 8: Job Candidates
Class Absence Excuse Discussion, ECE400, Spring 2012
A course consists in one lecture per week, for a total of 15 weeks. Student A asks to be excused from 1 of these 15 weeks because of a job interview. Student B asks to be excused from 6 of these 15 weeks because he has 6 job interviews. Student C asks to be excused from 10 of these 15 weeks because he has 10 job interviews. Student D asks to be excused from 14 of these 15 weeks because he has 14 job interviews.
- Shicheng Guo, Response
- Student A, I would allow as long as the instructor is notified at least a day before, as interviews are usually scheduled at least a day in advance. Students B, C, and D I would be very skeptical of, but I would allow if they could bring solid proof that they had an interview at the exact same time as class. Seeing as this class is the same time and same day of every week, the probability that an interview be scheduled at the exact time for so many weeks in a row is just not plausible.
- Artyom Melanich, Response
- I would accept it once. For the others I would do some kind of extra credit opportunity for missing a lecture, so I make sure they spend that hour doing the class work. To the students who are planning to miss more that 5 lectures I would suggest to reschedule their interviews and plan in advance, announce in the policy that this class has zero tolerance of the excuses like job interviews.
- Cody Cusic, Response
- I would accept Student A's case to miss class, as a lot of us are going to have Job Interviews this semester as most of us are entering the workforce soon. Student B would have to show proof in some way that they actually do have interviews at that time. This could be a printed copy of the Scheduled Interviews from CCO Express, or a piece of paper from the company that they were interviewing with if it is an off-campus interview. The piece of paper could be a possible reimbursement form or any other form that is authentic proof that they were not able to attend the lecture. Student C should only be approved if they can prove that those were the only times that they were able to attend the interview and they are not just scheduling every interview in the time of the lecture period, just so they don't have to attend lecture. Student C should also have to do extra papers, possibly over the topic of the lecture that they missed to compensate for missing the lecture. Student D does not have an acceptable excuse. This is a participation class, and they are not participating.
- Seth Strege, Response
- I would accept the excuses for both students A and B, but not for students C and D. Missing more than 6 of the 15 classes is absurd. It is also highly unlikely that the only time for any job interview is during this specific class. In order to prove that students A and B are telling the truth I would require some type of documentation from the interviewer.
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