Class Attendance Policy
Intercollegiate athletic contests within the NAIA and Crossroads League conference occasionally conflict with Goshen College class schedules. The Athletic Department strives to create an environment that promotes academic AND athletic excellence. In conjunction with the Academic Dean’s office we have developed the following protocol and procedure’s to help create a system where teaching faculty, coaches, and administrators can work together to promote this environment and have a consistent and unified system for communicating with student athletes.
To best do this the following guidelines should guide us:
Student Athletes should present an “application for excused absence” form at the beginning of the semester to each professor. The professor should feel free to contact Athletic Director Josh Gleason to discuss concerns. These conversations are most productive early in the semester before the conflicting dates have arrived.
Teaching Faculty are strongly encouraged to notify the AD and Coach if a student athlete has unexcused absences in their class. The athletic department expectation is that a student athlete should NEVER have an unexcused absence if they expect to be excused without penalty for a contest.
In coordination with the Academic Dean student athletes should not be penalized for missing a class that is an excused absence due to a contest. Arrangements to complete course work or tests that occurred during the class session should be arranged prior to the date of absence.
In situations where a workable resolution isn’t clear please coordinate directly with the Athletic Director so that we can decide how to proceed while providing a unified message back to the athlete and coach.
In the case of schedule changes due to weather cancelations or other circumstances the athletic department will immediately notify all teaching faculty of the change AND the student athlete will make individual contact with the professor involved. The professor is strongly encouraged to contact the AD immediately if the schedule change will create significant conflicts.
Please confirm you have received the application for excused absence by signing the students “professor signature sheet” which they are required to turn into their coach and will be kept on file in the athletic office. If a student athlete does not turn in this sheet they will not be allowed to travel with the team.
