VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY  SCHOOL OF LAW

JOHN POTTS, PROFESSOR OF LAW

Spring 2008 Syllabus

page three

Attendance Policy 

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policy last modified January 7, 2008

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Accreditation of an American law school requires that the law school require that students attend every class in every course. Valparaiso University School of Law's bulletin, 2005-2006, 2006-07, and 2007-08, includes the following language:

Attendance

Regular and punctual attendance is necessary to satisfy ABA residency and class hour requirements. Each student is expected to attend every class session for each course for which he or she is enrolled. Professors will enforce the attendance policy and must announce the method of enforcement at least one week prior to its imposition. Any student who does not comply with ABA attendance requirements is subject to administrative withdrawal. When absence is unavoidable, it is the responsibility of the student to explain to the instructor(s) the reason(s) for the absence and to learn what make-up work may by required. Whenever possible, the student should provide advance notice of absences by notifying the instructor(s). When an emergency situation occurs that prevents a student from contacting an instructor, the student should contact either the Law Registrar or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs so that instructors can be notified.

VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY BULLETIN, Volume 79, Number 2, page 29, August 2005; Volume 81, Number 2, page 31, August 2007.

I do not have authority to waive the attendance requirement.

My personal views on attendance requirements have changed over time. I was born in the first half of the last century. I went to college in the '60s. I considered attendance requirements to be M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, although I attended class well. A few students here taught me that I was wrong.

Once, with heavy heart, I assigned the grade AW to a student after he had taken the final exam. He was a graduating third-year student ... until then. If he had received the grade F, he would have graduated (under the rules at the time). But with the AW, he could not and did not graduate on time.

Only after the final exam did I learn that I had one more exam than students. Someone enrolled for credit had not attended class. I took the matter to the registrar. There was a student on the list with an "A" next to his name. I had taken the "A" to mean Audit. The registrar informed me that the computer system had changed. An "A" previously meant Audit, but then meant Add. The student had added the course.

The course was Federal Income Taxation of Corporations & Partnerships. Only ladies took the course that semester. This was unusual, but providential. The student with an "A" next to his name was a gentleman. It was clear to me that he had not been there. To his credit, he admitted it.

If I had let it go, the law school would have given credit for a course that the student did not take, whereas the accreditation attendance requirement prevents accreditation of correspondence law schools.

Some students want to know how many classes they can miss. The answer is contained in the law school policy stated above, which I do not have authority to waive.

But, really, how many classes can be missed?

Really, none.

I do not enforce the policy mechanically, however, although an argument can be made to do so. I have neither the time nor the inclination. Neither, however, may I ignore the matter as I would personally prefer.

If you have a problem, work with me and I'll work with you. Talk to me about the situation early. Always memorialize the essentials of the communication in an email to me. Sometimes special means can be used to substitute for a very limited number of missed classes.

I won't do anything about one or two missed classes, and I won't personally care. I have needed slack at times in my life, and I give slack when I can.

When, then, will there be enforcement? And how can the hassle of dealing with these matters be minimized, for you and for me, while allowing me to fulfill my responsibility?

Attendance sheets will be used. If I learn, however I learn it, that a student missed the equivalent of two weeks of class in a regular semester without making special arrangements, the student is subject to assignment of the grade AW - Administrative Withdrawal - and its consequences. Two weeks of classes is a bit over 14% of meeting time.

The artful non-attender who shows up to sign in and skip out should understand that he is in attendance only when he is in attendance. The artful non-attender who misses classes up to the mechanical enforcement trip wire will find that, having played the system, he has used up his slack. If he misses one more class he is subject to assignment of the grade AW, no matter how good his excuse for missing the class. He needs to have made special arrangements regarding the previously missed classes. The enforcement trip wire is not permission to have been gone previously.

Thus, this is not permission to miss two weeks of classes without making special arrangements.

Assignment of the grade AW is not punitive. It simply reflects that the student receiving the grade has not done what is necessary to be considered as having taken the course. A student in a coma for all 14 weeks of the semester has not taken the course, although he is without moral fault in the matter.

Most of you attend class very well. _I apologize to you for going into these matters. The comments are not aimed at you.