Student Petition in support of Access to Recordings, an Alternative Attendance Policy, and Accommodations for Short-Term Leave.

We are concerned with the inflexibility and inconsistency in administration of the 5-absence policy, strict policies regarding Zoom and class recordings, and the lack of alternative means of attending when a student or their family has a personal emergency. 

Students have been denied accommodations for parental leave following the birth of a child, attending medical appointments for their children, dealing with the closure of daycare due to COVID, and observing religious holidays. In the face of such requests, we are told that there is only one way to attend class: live and in person. If a student cannot physically be present, they will be counted as absent, potentially denied access to the classroom material, and—if they exceed five absences—are automatically withdrawn and receive a failing grade, pending appeal. Unless a student personally has or may have COVID or is in quarantine, the school offers no alternative way to attend a class. In light of this standard, many students choose to attend class at the expense of their health and families because they do not want to risk potentially losing an appeal.

There is simply no reason for such a harsh school attendance policy. We are asking the school to adapt our COVID-era policies to include consistent, humane policies for excused absences that include the following:

1.      Allow remote classes to “count” for the purposes of attendance in cases where a student needs to be absent for a good cause. We are already doing this for COVID, and this policy is a smart one that can easily be extended and adapted. If a student wants to attend class, they should not be barred from doing so because they cannot physically get to campus.

2.      Handle requests for accommodation through the administration with a uniform policy and not at the discretion of individual professors. We request that any policies be clear, available to all students in writing, and consistently applied through the Dean’s office and that the administration—not individual professors—approve or deny any such requests.

3.      Record all classes and make video and audio freely available to all students in a class as a resource and study guide throughout the semester. This accommodation is easy to implement and would have an immediate positive impact. Many schools are already taking this measure and have policies in place to limit distribution and protect the intellectual property of faculty.

No parent should have to choose between staying at home with their child or bringing their child or children to class to avoid a sixth absence. Forcing parents to make such choices is not a fair or sensible way to operate. COVID has shown us that there is more than one way to teach, and our attendance policies should reflect this reality. These changes are technically feasible and would put us in good company; law schools across the country are using COVID as an opportunity to reevaluate their policies more broadly, including those regarding class recordings and attendance.

Our position is simple: No student should have to live in fear of a surprise illness, the birth of a child, a sick family member, or lack of childcare and wonder how such a circumstance will affect their grades. We ask that the School of Law update its policies accordingly. It is critical that all students are given an opportunity to succeed without being disadvantaged by happenstance, and our policies should reflect an inclusive, student-centered approach to learning. We hope you agree.

Signed,

Katie Gradowski

Jeffrey Prystowsky

Alpha Diallo

Brandon Calton

Kat Kerwin

Yee Yee Myint

Conor MacDonald

Douglas M. Clemons

Linjia Feng

Nana Amma Ankrah

Shelby Nugent

Nellie Large

Kevin Lonsdorf

Saliha Cifci

Irving Betesh

Arianna Gabriel

Amiah Henry

Sasha Abbott

Elizabeth Gravelle

Tyler Prescott

Rebecca Rogers

Marcella Narvaes

James Kenneth Fanning 

Nathalie Kabongo

Sam Sherpalama

Melissa Torres

Stephen Fleitas

Danika Wayss

Shane Logue

Ruth Nwauche

Monica Calderon

Jasmin Blackiston

Megan Veach

Amanda Allard

Mariana Coelho

Ricky Pollock

Rida Abdullah

Mackenzi Bader

Neisha Brown

Mikala Morrison

Connor Gralton

Camille Conor

Andrew Spaulding

Cynthia Vandermolen

Ana Nimaja

Matthew Bertelli

Jonathan Vallecilla

Dalton Maldonado

 

Rory McEntee

Jessica Insurriaga

Sean Stimpson 

Molly Crippen

Alex Wilson

Giuliana David

Nancy Marin

Oren Jenkins

Stephen Gill

Allison Repetti

Elizabeth Anderson

Blair Robinson

Christopher Minicucci

Temidayo Akinjisola

Patticia OBrien

Kiron Ireland

William Anthony Jr

Bryce Puchalski

Divya Raj

Gabby Benjamin

Awn Abrar

Jonathan Dillard

Have you been personally impacted by this policy? 

First and foremost, you are not alone.  You deserve to have a chance to be successful in your legal education, and to be able to do so while caring for yourself and your family.

If you feel comfortable sharing your story with fellow students and with the administration, please scroll down to the bottom of the page ("Reasons for Signing"). If you would like to share your story anonymously, email kgradowski864@g.rwu.edu and we will add it without your name attached. 

What students are saying: 

• "The school’s strict policy is really hurtful to students that have to care for family members. I have 2 elders in the house that I have to care for. Even in recurring emergency cases, I had to force myself to drive 1:10 mins each way for the fear that I will be penalized by the strict attendance policy. I had to reserve the absences for special circumstances because I know I will need them. "

• "In the aftermath of what appeared to be remnants of Hurricane Ida on September 2–which left several flooded roads impassable statewide—one of my professors had no choice but to turn her vehicle around and return home; she had class via Zoom that day and gave all her students credit for attendance. Barely two hours earlier—on that same day—another professor who had safely made it to school announced to the class that she would make the recording available to all who couldn’t make it but would count them as absent. These are two professors’ reactions to the exact same event.  So here’s my question: if an act of God could not get professors to agree on what is permissible and excusable with regards to the Law School’s attendance policy, then why would they unanimously let me off the hook for choosing to quarantine after an international travel? Or how can I trust, a week later, that my possibly-ectopic pregnancy will be deemed “good reason” to strike out an absence?  I chose to put the interests of my classmates and the Law School community above my own and, in return, was rewarded with two absences." 

• "I am a single mother. My son’s daycare shut down for Covid related reasons for one week. The faculty did not agree on whether or not I should be guaranteed access to the recordings, and even if I did receive a recording, some professors might still treat the missed class as an absence. This was a situation involving my child that was ultimately out of my control and completely Covid related. Because of the fear and stress around missing a week of classes and how the absences might count against me, my mom drove from Maine to Rhode Island to nanny for the entire week"
• "I was accepted into law school in January 2019. At the same time I was accepted, I also found out I was pregnant and would be having a baby in September, one month into my first year of law school. Before I accepted, I met with people at RWU law to discuss my options. They assured me that we would "figure it out." What I was not told was that there would be no leniency from the 5 absence policy. I was told this in June 2019 that if I missed more than 5 absences, I would still have to go through the same standard policy. . . . On Tuesday, September 17, I got a call from my doctor that I would have a scheduled C-section on September 19, at 10AM. I told all my professor that day it would be my last day before I would be home. I came back to school October 1, 2019, less than 2 weeks after having major surgery. After spending 4 days in the hospital, I was able to go home with my son, spend one week home, before returning back to campus because I was coming up on my 5 absences."
• "My grandfather passed away last March and on the day of his funeral, I received a notification from the TA that I was absent from the class because I did not watch the pre-recorded lecture class beforehand, despite notifying my professors that he passed away and when his services would be. It is completely unreasonable for the sudden loss of a beloved family member not to be exempt from the strict attendance policy."
• "My mother has a condition that the doctors have not been able to diagnose yet. We are in communication with the doctor almost every other week and I have to take her to those appointment. Although, I have my dad and my brother to help out my mom feels more comfortable with me. In addition, I was not able to find affordable housing in Rhode Island so I have to commute for over three and half hours to school every Tuesday- Thursday."
• "I have asked the administration and professors to excuse my absences for religious holidays. I have received mixed answers in whether I will be excused or not. I should not be penalized in any way or treated differently than other students for practicing my religion. To be penalized and have to use religious holidays as unexcused absences, allows the other students from different religions with an advantage with extra absent days. I would appreciate it if the school would have a calendar that reflected and respected my religion as it did others, but at the very least, not penalize me for missing class on my religious holidays, rather allow myself and other students to catch up and have the absence marked as excused after watching class recordings."
• "My father has had multiple mylenoma for the entirety of my law school career and a good while before that. Thankfully, we have been fortunate to avoid any direct threats to my family's health because of this pandemic. Yet with my father having the illness that he does, more familial responsibilities naturally fall upon my shoulders. This in turn, places a peculiar burden on me in regards to the current public health crisis. I am intimately familiar with the unenviable situation that these times places a law school student in, that one must balance an academic career, family life and a public health crisis. For example, I did the entirety of 1L will never once visiting campus, out of both concern for my family's health, and for my own, as my respiratory condition also leaves me vulnerable to the coronavirus.   Having a process by which students may make up classes for emergencies, would go a long way to making these times less trying for us all. "
• "I have not been personally impacted directly, however many of the classmates that do the most to inspire & enrich my legal education are juggling family commitments and making enormous sacrifices—on their family commitments, extra curriculars/group study, and their legal education. Sensible accommodations can mitigate that loss"