Waiver to ABA Standard 308

Please read, in its entirety, and sign the below general requirements information. Every student is responsible for knowing and complying with all Office of Student Affairs policies and procedures.

In order for an Emergency Absence Request to be officially considered, students must submit the online Emergency Absence Request Form. Emails, telephone calls, in-person meetings, and similar communications will not be considered. This policy ensures a fair process for all students and prevents any undue influence. Any prohibited communications will not receive a response.

General Requirement:
The American Bar Association Standard 308 mandates that the School of Law require regular class attendance. UDC Law administration and faculty expect in-person class attendance.

• At any time after the fifth week of a course (halfway through a summer session course), a student who has been determined by the instructor to have attended fewer than 85 percent of the class sessions in any course may be required to drop the course from his or her registration upon the instructor’s so indicating to the Associate Dean of Students.

• An instructor may also impose stricter attendance standards or other sanctions for nonattendance, including lowering of a grade, so long as students are informed at the start of the course of the instructor’s attendance rules and possible sanctions.

• The instructor referred to above should take attendance with such regularity as is needed to ensure reasonable accuracy in determining a student’s attendance record.

Please Note #1: Faculty members have the flexibility to cancel or re-schedule classes for various reasons, including to personally observe religious holidays. The only constraint is that they must make sure that they still hold the minimum number of class sessions necessary to comply with ABA standards. In some (but not all) cases, missing a class session or two will not put you below the ABA minimum.

Student Handbook 5.1 – Attendance

 _{“Satisfactory attendance” means attendance at a minimum of 85% of regularly scheduled classes for each course (except Turbo courses; see Section 3.4.2). The percentage of absences is intended to account for the range of minor illnesses, family obligations, interviews, and unplanned events that occur in each of our lives.}

_{Upon a showing of compelling hardship and in exceptional circumstances, the Associate Dean of Students may relieve a student of the attendance requirement. Requests for relief from the attendance requirement must be submitted in a timely manner – ordinarily within three (3) days of notification of excessive absences, in instances where notice is provided.}

For any course, a student is permitted to be absent up to the Course Absence Allowance as stated in the syllabus. Students with absences exceeding the Course Absence Allowance will be excluded from the course unless such excess absences are waived by Dean Yannick Brookes.

Absences within the Course Absence Allowance should be reported directly to the professor. Absences beyond the Course Absence Allowance must be reported to the Associate Dean of Students, Yannick Brookes, using the online Emergency Absence Request Form.

Emergency Absence Process

1. Submission: Once a student has exceeded the Course Absence Allowance, they must submit the online form with all required supporting documentation illustrating the reason for the absence.
2. Acknowledgement: The student will receive a confirmation email acknowledging receipt of their submission.
3. Decision: The student will receive a decision email from Dean Yannick Brookes indicating whether the request has been approved or denied. This email will list any waived dates. All emergency absence decisions will be issued by the last day of classes in the given semester.

Examples of Acceptable Supporting Documentation:

• Letter from the medical professional performing the procedure
• Copy of the death certificate of the deceased family member
• Email receipt from covidconfidential@udc.edu after submitting positive COVID-19 test results
• Program from a memorial or funeral service
• Police report
• Documentation verifying the extenuating circumstance preventing attendance

Important Notes on Documentation:

• Documentation cannot be from the student’s family member, partner, friend, or coworker. Acceptable sources include a direct supervisor, a clergy member officiating the service/ceremony, or another verified authority.
• As a general rule, work-related requests and jury summons are not granted.
• Documentation must clearly identify the author and their credentials and must confirm that the conflict occurs on the same date and time as the originally scheduled class or exam.

Assignments, Assessments, Early Departure, and Late Arrival:

This waiver applies only to attendance only. Students remain responsible for all assignments, assessments, in-class tasks, and other academic requirements. This waiver does not permit arriving late to class or leaving class early.

Students with an Attendance Accommodation from ARC 

Students with an approved “attendance consideration” accommodation are still subject to the Law School’s minimum attendance requirement of 85% of class meetings each semester. Students must first exhaust the absences permitted under this requirement; only then may they seek an Emergency Waiver to ABA Standard 308 from the Associate Dean of Students. To initiate this process, the student must submit supporting documentation directly to their ARC Counselor. If the ARC Counselor approves the documentation and the absence under the student’s accommodation, the ARC Counselor will email the approval notice to the Dean of Students, Yannick Brookes, and copy the student. The student must then submit the Emergency Waiver to ABA Standard 308 prior to the start of the affected class session, attaching only the ARC Counselor Absence Approval Notice (do not upload medical documentation to the waiver form). Any request that does not include an ARC Absence Approval Notice will be processed as a standard Emergency Waiver to ABA Standard 308 and may be denied.

Review Process for Emergency Waiver Requests
The review of Emergency Waiver to ABA Standard 308 requests begins with the Associate Dean of Students obtaining the student’s attendance record from the course professor. This step ensures that the student has exhausted the absences permitted under the Law School’s attendance policy before seeking an emergency waiver.

If the student has not exceeded the allowable absences for a course, the Emergency Waiver to ABA Standard 308 request will be denied, and the absence in question will be recorded as a regular absence permitted by the course policy.

If the student has exceeded the allowable number of absences, the request will proceed to formal review by the Associate Dean of Students. In evaluating such requests, the Associate Dean will consider all relevant factors, including but not limited to:

• The nature and extent of the extenuating circumstances;
• Whether the situation was unforeseeable and could not have been reasonably planned for;
• The overall context and reason for the absence;
• Whether the absence is connected to an approved accommodation through the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) and accompanied by an official ARC Absence Approval Notice; and
• Whether the absence is associated with a documented religious observance.

Requests that do not meet the emergency standard will be denied. In these cases, because the student has exceeded the allowable number of absences, the student may be subject to faculty and/or Law School sanctions, including but not limited to: a failing grade in the course, grade reduction, or administrative withdrawal from the course (if requested by the last day to withdraw with a “W”).

All Emergency Waiver to ABA Standard 308 requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Students should not assume that approval in one case guarantees the same outcome in another. Decisions may not be rendered until later in the semester; therefore, students are strongly advised to exercise caution in using allowable absences and to reserve emergency waivers for situations that are truly beyond their control.

Students bear the risk of receiving an unfavorable decision and should plan accordingly. All decisions rendered by the Associate Dean of Students are final. Requests that result in a denial are reviewed in consultation with one or more members of the Faculty Student Services Committee.

Please note that if student anticipates abscences to exceed five days that they should make a meeting request with Dean Brookes.