A Letter to the Faculty from the Athletic Policy Committee (Spring 2015)
Dear faculty:
We are writing to ask for your help in establishing better cooperation and coordination
between academics and co-curricular activities. Many student-athletes, for example, are
confronted with conflicts between course obligations and scheduled competitions. Required
field trips have produced similar conflicts over the years. It is believed that most of these
conflicts could be resolved with better planning and a cooperative spirit. Although this letter
was created by the Athletic Policy Committee, it involves a wide range of University cocurricular activities.
Whether they take the form of intercollegiate athletics, the performing arts, student
government, campus clubs, internships, community service, or field trips, co-curricular
activities are important character-building experiences intended to enhance the University
experience. Moreover, students often serve as official representatives of the University
while engaging in co-curricular activities.
While we recognize that the primary purpose of the University is to provide academic
instruction, and that attendance policies are the prerogative of the individual instructor, cocurricular activities are, indeed, an integral part of the overall CLU experience. We hope that
the faculty will find the suggested guidelines below to be useful when dealing with student
absences caused by co-curricular activity conflicts.
Accordingly, we respectfully ask that faculty, in the spirit of cooperation, do their best to
work with their students who engage in primary co-curricular activities (defined below).
The basic premise of the following suggested guidelines is to prevent students from
being unfairly tugged in two directions—and potentially penalized in some way—
when certain time conflicts arise.
In closing, we thank you, in advance, for your cooperative spirit in helping make the student
experience at CLU a good balance of curricular and co-curricular activities! Please don’t
hesitate to contact me (julius@callutheran.edu) if you have any questions or would like to
meet with me to discuss a particular situation.
Sincerely,
Ed Julius, Chair, Athletic Policy Committee
Faculty Athletics Representative
Professor of Accounting
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Suggested Guidelines for Faculty Regarding Co-Curricular Activity Conflicts
There is an important difference between primary and secondary co-curricular activities.
We ask faculty to give special attention to primary activities.
1. When a primary co-curricular activity (examples provided below) conflicts with class
time, faculty are asked to count any resulting absences as excused absences, and not to
penalize the affected students in any way. Moreover, it is asked that, if logistically
possible, these students be given sufficient opportunity to make up missed work. Any
such provisions should, of course, be reasonable and fair to the student and to his or her
classmates, while maintaining the academic integrity of the course.
2. Below are examples of primary co-curricular activities, though this is not intended
to be a complete list.
A. Scheduled intercollegiate athletic competitions (both varsity and J.V.). Students
must be official members of the team and listed on the roster for that season.
B. Field trips, concerts, lectures, service learning, etc., required by another instructor,
and under the direct supervision of that instructor.
C. Attendance at a conference related to the student’s academic discipline, in which
the student will be presenting or will be accompanied by his or her professor.
D. Scheduled performance or tour by a performing unit of the University.
E. An approved trip or activity in the service of the University that cannot be scheduled
at any other time.
F. Athletic practices only when the team will be traveling to an NCAA championship,
and the host team permits missed class time for practice activities.
G. Performing arts rehearsals for students enrolled in a graded course that requires
such rehearsals.
3. When a secondary co-curricular activity (examples provided below) conflicts with
class time, faculty are not asked to consider any resulting absences to be excused,
nor are they asked to undertake any makeup or related provisions (though they certainly have the prerogative to do so).
4. Below are examples of secondary co-curricular activities, though this is not
intended to be a complete list.
A. Athletic practices or scrimmages (but please note NCAA exception in 2F above).
B. Performing arts rehearsals for students not enrolled in a graded course that requires
such rehearsals.
C. Club activities, intramural sporting events, and cultural events.
D. Service-learning activities not required by another instructor. These activities are important for students, but should be done at times that do not conflict with scheduled classes.
E. Employment or internships of any type, whether on campus or off. These activities,
though important, should be scheduled around the student’s classes.
5. In the unusual occurrence of a conflict between two primary co-curricular events (such
as a championship match taking place during a scheduled musical performance), the
event supervisors are asked to work together to attempt to resolve the conflict.
Statement on student responsibilities for inclusion in syllabi:
Students who expect to be absent from class due to conflicts with co-curricular activities
(athletic competitions, field trips, etc.) are asked to present their instructors with written
notification of all such anticipated absences as early in the semester as possible, and are
further asked to discuss these conflicts with their instructors at the earliest opportunity.
Athletes shall also furnish the season’s schedule, with conflicting dates highlighted. Timely
notification of expected absences is the primary responsibility of the student. Whether or not
your instructor considers such absences to be excused, students are urged not to miss
additional classes beyond those absolutely necessary for scheduled competitions, field
trips, etc. In addition, unless alternative arrangements have been made, assignments due
on the date of a “co-curricular absence” are still expected to be turned in on time.