Attendance and Grading Policies Draft University Catalog Revision

At the April 7, 2025 Senate meeting,  Senate President Slouber shared a draft Attendance and Grading Policies University Catalog Revision. He reported that this issue was raised by faculty and that the Senate has discussed it many times in the past without adopting a policy for the Catalog. The Senate discussed three policy options: to authorize faculty variability in policy, to prohibit faculty from grading based on attendance, or to require faculty to grade based on attendance. Senators shared comments in support of the variability option. 

The draft was discussed by ACC at its April 8 meeting. During that discussion, there was a comment about “Leaves of Absence” being reserved for serious issues and a comment to move “loss of a loved one” to the top of the list. Shelli Soto, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, said that there are issues for students who take community college classes who are withdrawn administratively due to lack of attendance during the first of classes, which triggers a tuition refund. Her office regularly sees students who expect refunds because of this. These issues were discussed during the April 14 Senate Executive Council meeting, 

On April 21, a motion from Senate Executive Council to approve the Attendance and Grading Policies Draft University Catalog Revision passed unanimously, with one abstention, with the following friendly amendments adopted by consent: 

• Move “Instructors set their own attendance policies in the course syllabus, clearly specifying how, and to what extent, absences affect, or do not affect, the student’s grade” to second paragraph
• Revise new second paragraph to read “Instructors set their own attendance policies in the course syllabus, clearly specifying how, and to what extent, absences affect, or do not affect, the student’s grade.”
• Strike “clearly” from “The instructor’s syllabus policy on attendance must be clearly articulated and consistently applied to all students”
• Modify paragraph four, sentence one to read “For instructors who grade on attendance, their syllabus policy . . . “

Download the Senate-passed resolution. 

ACC will be responsible for developing updated syllabus requirements to reflect the approved policy language. (Note: ACC incorporated this language in the revised Syllabus Requirements and Guidance document approved on May 20, 2025.)