<p>Here is my university's policy about excused absences: It is the responsibility of each instructor to devise a system for addressing missed assignments and examinations that does not penalize the student when an excused absence is accepted.</p>
<p>Excused Emergency Absences</p>
<p>A student shall also be excused from class for emergency absences. Emergency absences must be reported to the instructor as soon as possible. Excused emergency absences include:</p>
<p>Illness or injury on the part of the student or a close family member for which the student has responsibility or obligation when certified by a physician.</p>
<p>Death of a close family member which must be appropriately documented.</p>
<p>Students as university employees</p>
<p>If students are employees of the university, the same policies and obligations apply.</p>
<p>I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. I missed 4 days of class. (We meet 2x a week) I emailed my teacher, no reply. I left voicemails to no avail. I even gave her every sick note, discharge papers, etc. she told me I would still fail the course ( we had 4 assignments due that would determine our final grade. I had 2 A's and 2 B's). However, I was over the absence limit by 2. She said it does not matter why I am absent. But my university policy states otherwise. </p>
<p>I was accepted into the nursing program for spring '15. If I fail this course, I will be disqualified from the program and will have to change my major.</p>
<p>There’s nothing we can do to help you. I would recommend talking to the head of the department and appeal. Be very polite - just state the facts, show your documentation, and say nothing bad about the instructor.</p>
<p>It does sound like this could be cleared up by talking to the department head or undergrad advisor and indicating that you believe your absences should be excused and you have documentation of your hospital stay and the emails you sent to the instructor. If there is an undergrad advisor in your department, that might be the person to start with. Ideally you could clear this up before the final grade is submitted. </p>
<p>You need to act quickly. If you hesitate, it will probably weaken your case. However, if the professor has a policy that says you can only have two missed classes, there’s nothing in the student handbook that you’ve shown that will help you. The handbook says the professor can devise whatever plan she wants to handle excused absences. She has not penalized you for an excused absence; she has simply accepted only two of them. The chairman or u/g advisor might send you back to the professor or call the professor into a conference, but don’t be surprised if the chair or advisor does not. Professors have a lot of control over their grades and don’t take lightly interference from people who are, after all, not their bosses but their colleagues.</p>
<p>If you’re fortunate and you get to meet with the professor again: Take full responsibility for the absences; point out that you tried to contact her (show her the emails); ask for her understanding that you were hospitalized (show her the documentation). I would not fail to mention that you are doing well in the course and would be willing to do whatever classwork she proposes in order to make up the two unexcused absences. Hope for the best, be calm and reasonable. Whatever you do, don’t cry in her presence, and don’t go see her until you’re sure you can talk to her without crying. Role-play with another professor or student if you can. </p>
<p>This seems pretty unreasonable from what I can gather… I understand a professor being hesitant when the student missed so much class and isn’t doing well, but if this student is doing well and if they did everything in their power to contact the professor and do the right thing, why are they being so cold about it? It’s not like the student was vacationing in Mexico or something. They were sick in the hospital. Is this a weeder class for nursing school? Is the prof trying to make a point about how nursing students need to always be in class or something?</p>
<p>Whenever I’ve had to miss class for either personal or medical reasons, my professors have always understood and assured me not to worry about it, so this seems strange to me. I’d second trying to talk to your professor again and then to talk to higher ups if and only if you can’t work something out. The way to look at it is if your professor already says you’re going to fail again, you have absolutely nothing else to lose.</p>
<p>I disagree, @jkeil911…I think this is a circumstance in which the professor is penalizing the student for an emergency absence. Even if OP had never missed another day of class, she’s STILL over the limit just with the hospitalization. Is it her fault that she got seriously ill or injured and had to miss class because she’s in the hospital? Basically, she’s being forced to fail the class because she got ill. It does seem like this professor is violating the student handbook, but there’s no way to know for sure without discussing someone.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I agree with your advice: talking to the department chair or your academic advisor (or both) is the way to go here. Explain the situation calmly and show your evidence, being the discharge papers from the hospital. Stay calm and don’t get overheated or upset. These folks will be able to tell you how to proceed.</p>
<p>You should talk to the Dean of Students about how to deal with the situation…in the mean time you should be doing all the readings/homeworks/projects as much as you can.</p>
<p>Also it depends on the class…if you missed a practical type class and haven’t done the labs that is one things. If it is a lecture/homework kind of class it might be easier ot make up.</p>