The Paper Trail

University of Florida to Require Notes for Absences

December 1, 2009 RSS Feed Print

Did you have a rough night last night and just don't feel like taking your mind-splitting headache to an exam? Well, if you go to the University of Florida, you're going to have to come up with a better reason than that to miss class.

The University of Florida will require a doctor's note from students explaining why they missed exams or finals-week assignments, the Independent Florida Alligator reports. University of Florida Associate Provost Bernard Mair told faculty and administrators last week that professors can now demand medical documentation of illness from students.

With the number of swine flu cases slowing, the university said the new program would be fair to students.

"For some students, the temptation [to skip exams] may be greater toward the end of the semester," Steve Orlando, a university spokesman, tells the Alligator.

Still, Paul D'Anieri, the dean of Florida's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences doesn't believe the policy change will have much effect on his school, the report says, because Mair's memo simply reflects a policy that Florida used before swine flu hit.

Tags:
University of Florida,
colleges

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Does the note have to say why you were out? Seems we have a privacy issue problem here. By the way, I was in the hospital with meningitis during finals one year. I was in law school. Dean Michail Patrick was the Dean of Students. Mind you I was 40 years old and an RN. When I called him, from the hospital, he said "I don't care if you are in the hospital, all I want to know is "will you be here for your exam?" Nice guy.

Good luck students. As if any of you would miss an exam "just cuz!"

Carol Marden of FL 9:00PM December 26, 2009

The reason this story seems like a non-story is that it omits the most important part.

Because of the large number of students with the swine flu at the start of the semester, the university requested that sick students stay home and not mix with the general population. In many cases that meant they did not see a doctor. Therefore, the university asked professors to be understanding with students who missed class and allow them to make up work.

With the swine flu numbers dropping and finals approaching, the university simply reverted back to its old policy.

Janine Sikes, University of Florida of FL 11:27AM December 02, 2009

Having taught for years at all levels of higher education as well as serving as a university administrator and school director, I found this last semester to be one of the more difficult due to the H1N1 (Swine) Influenza outbreak. The health professions had made clear to the educational professionals that an insistence on securing excuses from physicians for every absence would (pardon the pun in this UF context) swamp the system. As one whose own family was severely impacted by H1N1, I understood their concern. However, now that H1N1 outbreaks are on the decline, it is right and proper for universities to signal its faculty and staff (and students) that before students could assume that the H1N1 "rules" still apply, it's best for all that they know now before the finals period that it's time the old rules are back in effect. Mr. Orlando is correct that the temptation to skip some classes to concentrate on others arrives about this time in the 17-week semester and that's really no surprise to seasoned instructors, but needs to be said to answer the "why this, why now?" questions. Steve understands that it is simply best to be proactive in your communications and eliminate possible misunderstandings.

K. A. Crooks of PA 11:12AM December 02, 2009

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