The COVID-19 Pandemic is behind us according to University Senator Paniz Hazaveh, who presented changes to the COVID-19 absence policy before the senate body this past Thursday, Oct. 24, among other changes to affect the student body. 

Proposal 2-25 “Proposal to Amend Senate Policy 102.1: Policy on Class Attendance” from the Academic and Instructional Policy Committee removes the unique excused absence policy for COVID-19 which has been in place for years. This policy allowed for absences of three or more consecutive days for the student body without requiring any sort of documentation for COVID-19, while documentation is required for any other illness or extended absence. This proposal also limits students to providing documentation for an excused absence within 30 days of the absence period, documentation later than 30 days will no longer be accepted, and no excusal will be granted. The senate passed this proposal with no dissent.

Proposal 3-25 was also voted on, which addresses anonymity of student work for university assessment purposes. This proposal removes the required anonymity for any student work analyzed by the university for course assessment, a departure from current policy requiring complete anonymity for any student work. USG representative David Reeves voiced privacy concerns for the student body, however Senator Paul Bergstrom clarified that that federal policy protected student content from being publicly available. The senate body claimed that it is impossible to ensure anonymity for some student work, such as oral presentations, due to their nature, preventing them from being used for assessment. The senate passed this proposal with no dissent.

University Senate meetings are held weekly in room 102 of the Chemical Science Building from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information visit the University Senate website at www.mtu.edu/senate/. 

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