While springtime brings welcome warmer weather, it is also when the campus sees an increase in cases of allergies and other illnesses that impact students’ abilities to attend classes.
As a reminder, Health Services has a long-standing policy that its staff will not write excuses for missed classes, exams or assignments due to illness. Class attendance is an administrative matter between the student and the instructor. This policy is supported by the American College Health Association (ACHA).
Asking students to seek written excuses from Health Services ties up staff resources that would be better utilized for sick students. Rather, the office encourages treating students as the adults that they are, and only requiring such documentation for extended absences, which are managed through the Office of the Dean of Students. In those cases, Health Services will contact the Office of the Dean of Students to verify an extended illness for a student and the Office of the Dean of Students will provide the student’s professors with an out-of-class notice.
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please reach out to Director of Student Health Services Angie Brown (angela.brown@oswego.edu).
-- Submitted by Health Services