/Institutions/Jacksonville-University/json/2023-2024/Academic-Catalog-local.json

/Institutions/Jacksonville-University/json/2023-2024/Academic-Catalog.json

2. Class Attendance

A.  General

Students at JU College of Law are expected to attend all scheduled classes for the courses in which they are enrolled, including the 1L class sessions scheduled during Orientation Week.

 

Faculty should take attendance for each class and update the roster weekly via the Starfish advising system. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs shall check the attendance records weekly.

 

Students enrolled in externships and co-curricular credits are subject to the attendance requirements provided in the course syllabuses.

B.  First-Day Attendance

The COL monitors class attendance, including first-day attendance. If a student does not attend the first class of the term, and does not inform the faculty or the Associate Dean of Student Affairs prior to the absence, the student may be dropped from the course.

 

In addition, some courses may have first-day attendance requirements. Students who fail to attend the first day of a course with such a policy will be dropped from the course automatically and without advance notice. Students must review the attendance policies of each course syllabus to determine if a first-day policy is in effect.

C.  Roster Verification

At the end of the drop/add period for each term, faculty must verify the accuracy of attendance rosters. The purpose of this verification is to prevent problems associated with tuition refunds, federal financial aid, and issuing grades of “WX” for students who never attended class.

D.  Maximum Absences

The COL recognizes that some absences may be unavoidable due to illness, personal and family emergencies, law school or university sponsored activities, religious or cultural observances, and other compelling reasons. The COL encourages students to communicate with faculty regarding these absences, however the COL assumes that any absences are for compelling reasons and, therefore, documentation is not generally required.

 

Unless otherwise approved as a disability or special accommodation (see Disability Support Services), students who fail to attend at least 80 percent of the total class hours in a course will not have attended sufficient class hours to earn credit and may be administratively withdrawn from the course by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

 

Students who are administratively withdrawn from a course will receive a “WX” grade for the course and will not receive credit toward graduation for those course hours. Pursuant to the College’s policies on academic probation, a student who receives an “WX” grade in any course work will be placed immediately on academic probation and will remain on probation for at least the following semester.

The hours of an “WX” graded course may not be used in determining hours for graduation, nor will they impact a student’s G.P.A. A student who receives a grade of “WX” in, or is withdrawn from, a required course must repeat the course the next time it is regularly scheduled. If a student receives a “WX” grade, they will not be entitled to any tuition refund relating to that course.

 

Students may appeal a withdrawal due to excessive absence to the COL Academic Standards committee pursuant to the Administrative Withdrawal Procedure.

E.  Student Responsibility

Each student is required to keep a record of their total absences for each class. The professor is not required to notify students of their total absences.

 

Students who have flu or flu-like symptoms, a contagious or serious illness, are caring for another person suffering from the flu or a contagious or serious disease or have an exigent circumstance that might result or require missing several class hours shall consult with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs as soon as possible to discuss class attendance accommodations. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs holds discretion to determine and assign the maximum permissible number of absences in each of the student’s courses, considering relevant factors; the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs may request the student provide appropriate documentation. In most situations, it will not be reasonable for a student to miss more than 30 percent of the class hours.

F.  Course-Level Attendance Policies

Each faculty member may, with adequate notice to students, impose attendance policies stricter than those detailed in this policy. At the discretion of the professor, and with advance notice to the student, a student who is in violation of a course-level attendance policy may be penalized in a reasonable way, such as being precluded from taking the final examination or submitting the final paper or project, unless such absences were approved as an accommodation by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, or otherwise due to participation in an approved COL activity and the absences were approved in advance by the professor and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

 

Failure to attend and/or be prepared for class may be considered in the professor’s determination of a student’s final grade in a course, consistent with policies detailed in the course syllabus.

G. Hybrid or Virtual Attendance

H.  Distance Education Attendance Policy

This policy applies to any course at the College of Law offered primarily through distance education. Students’ class attendance will be determined each week by the students’ doing the following:

(1) reading and preparing all assignments given by the course professor;

(2) watching any lectures or other presentations provided on the distance education site;

(3) participating on the distance education site as required by the course instructor; and

(4) completing any other course requirements of the instructor.

Failure to participate in any distance education course in one course week may only be excused by the professor for the course, in consultation with the Associate Dean of Academics. If the failure to participate is excused, the student may be required to complete additional work to make up for the absence or the student’s grade may be reduced by the professor for the absence, both in the instructor’s discretion.

A student whose failure to participate in any distance education course for one full week is not excused will be given a grade of “WX” in the course, and the student will not receive a refund of tuition paid for that course.

The College of Law’s standard withdrawal policies apply to courses taught via distance education. A student who registers for a course must formally withdraw from the course. Failure to attend a course for which the student is registered will be considered absence from the course. If a student withdraws from a distance education course, the College of Law’s standard tuition refund policy will apply.

By registering to take a class via distance education, the student certifies that they will perform the work for the class without outside assistance, except as approved by the professor in writing.  Representation that work done in a distance education course is one’s own when it is not constitutes dishonesty, a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.

I.  Federal Financial Aid

J.  Policy Revisions

The COL reserves the right to change or modify any aspect of this policy at any time, with or without prior notice.