Attendance Policy
Passed – April 28, 2009
The BOAC has a ceiling of a maximum of seven (7) missed class days per academic term for all athletic teams. If an athletic team or student-athlete in an individual sport is required to miss more than seven class days in a given academic term, the BOAC will consider an extension to that policy.
The athletic administration will present schedules for each team to the BOAC in a timely fashion. If an exception is requested, the administration will present the facts surrounding the need for missing more than seven days of classes.
The BOAC will consider the circumstances that may include but not be limited to the following factors:
- Unusual scheduling difficulties such as independent status, one time unbalanced conference schedules that require more away games than home games, and qualification for conference and/or NCAA championships.
- The team grade point average in past years. The past academic performance is an indicator of the academic ability of the team members involved.
- APR and graduation rates for the team(s) involved.
- The distribution of the missed class days throughout the semester.
- Special assistance that may be available during the absences, such as web, on-line resources, tutoring services, etc.
- NCAA regulations do not allow student-athletes to miss classes for practice activities. If the BOAC approves the exception for a given team, it shall receive a report from the athletic administration following the conclusion of the academic term for which the exception was granted. This report will detail the academic performance of the team and any other results that are pertinent to the exception.
Should the BOAC not grant the exception, the athletic administration will attempt to revise the schedule to conform to the maximum of seven missed days. If the administration is unsuccessful in that attempt, it may appeal to the President or her designee for relief.
In the best interests of student-athlete welfare, no intercollegiate contests should be scheduled during final examinations except if conference affiliation requires regular season conference or conference tournament contests to be scheduled during exam week. In rare occasions, single home contests may be scheduled the day before final exams begin, but the preference will be that no contests, home or away, are scheduled on the day before final exam week. At the student-athlete’s discretion, graduating seniors will be excused from all intercollegiate competitions so that they may attend and participate in graduation ceremonies.
Absence letters that student-athletes give to professors outlining all missed class days due to travel and/or intercollegiate competition must be completed and available to be distributed on the first day of every class that a student-athlete is enrolled in. The coaching staff for each sport will be responsible for providing a complete intercollegiate competition schedule to the Assistant Athletic Director for Student Success at least two weeks before classes begin so that absence letters can be created ahead of the first day of classes. Furthermore, coaching staffs will be tasked with making sure that student-athletes present absence letters to each professor on the first day of class, and then get them signed and returned to the Student-Athlete Academic Success Center within the first week of classes. The Student-Athlete Academic Success Center staff and the Faculty Athletics Representative will be tasked with making sure absence letters are available before the first day of classes.
Any alterations to BOAC approved intercollegiate competition schedules which increase the number of full and half class days student-athletes miss due to competition and/or travel must be approved by the Athletic Director and/or sport supervisor, and the Faculty Athletics Representative. Reasonable accommodations may need to be made for post-season play. Any above approved alterations to the intercollegiate competition and travel schedules reflected in the absence letters presented by student-athletes to faculty members at the beginning of the semester will mean that a second absence letter will be issued for every student-athlete affected by the change and presented to every faculty member whose class will be affected by the alteration. Coaches are strongly encouraged to make sure that student-athletes whose class attendance will be affected by the schedule alteration gain the approval of faculty members before a student-athlete will be allowed to miss full or half days not detailed in the original absence letter.