SGA approves attendance policy changes

SGA also approves club grants, Adventure Club
By Lindsay Imwold | gargoyle@flagler.edu

On Tuesday, the Student Government Association meeting focused on the attendance policy.

SGA president David Matulewicz declared that the current attendance policy proposal will be sent to the Faculty Senate Feb. 24.

The policy for proposed change has made some progress. Classes withdrawn by a student beyond the “add/drop” date are now considered withdraw “W” on a transcript instead of withdraw pass “WP” or withdraw fail “WF.”

But, the Faculty Senate has not yet changed its regard for excused absences. They are still included in the 20 percent missed class allowance. SGA is in favor of changing this to a more noticeable difference in excused versus unexcused absences.

In an eight-minute discussion about the policy, Matulewicz recapped that SGA had gotten rid of the proposed universal excuse policy, because it didn’t differentiate between excused and unexcused absences.

SGA’s new Academics Committee proposal to be sent to the Faculty Senate reads as follows:

“A student who is marked unexcused for more than 20% of the scheduled class meetings for the academic semester will not receive credit for the course. Excused absences do not count towards the 20% mark. An excused absence will be defined as the occurrence of illness/sickness, serious emotional illness of the student or of a dependent of the student, participation in academic events, participation in scheduled intercollegiate athletic contests away from campus, death of a family member and other circumstances determined by the Dean of Academic Affairs or Flagler College Health Services.”

Opinions voiced during discussion included that motivation cannot be forced upon students in the form of the attendance policy. They also said the most reasonable way to seek change is to take baby steps without trying to totally abolish the policy, which few believed could successfully happen.

With 23 members in favor of the proposal, seven against it and two abstaining, SGA confirmed sending the proposal to Faculty Senate.

Other issues approached in the meeting included funding for the clubs “Best Buddies” and Greenpeace. With $787.22 in Club Grant funds, the motion was passed to allocate $300 to Greenpeace for its organic, vegetarian barbeque on Feb. 22.

Adventure Club was also approved by general consent.