Many undergraduates are unaware of Hopkins policy on missing class due to illness and are unclear on what steps to take when they miss a day of class, several days of class or a major exam.
The Health and Wellness Center does not give out "sick notes" to excuse students from class, but many students continue to ask for them regardless.
"I don't know if there is one specific policy that applies to every class," sophomore Javaneh Jabbari said. "I'm not sure if there is one policy - or if there is one, I don't know [of] it."
Many Hopkins students share this confusion.
"I'm just a freshman," Catia Goncalves said, "and I know that if you're sick, you go to the Health and Wellness Center, but I have no idea how that [translates] to professors or anything."
Junior Esther Kim was under the misconception that the Health and Wellness Center still hands out sickness notes to excuse student absences, when in fact this practice was abandoned in 2006.
"Each time [I was sick] I thought I had to [do it] differently. They won't hand out sick notes; you have to go through a different office to do that, which seems somewhat counter-intuitive because professors are looking for evidence that you're sick from the Health Center."
Organic Chemistry Lab Professor Jane Greco has witnessed this problem with some of her students.
"Occasionally students don't even know the policy. I've had students e-mail me saying they're too sick to come to lab, and they're on their way to Health and Wellness to get a note. And that's never been anything I've asked for."
The school's policy for missing class due to illness can be found in the Undergraduate Handbook and on the Student Health and Wellness Center Web site, under "Student Illness Notes."
The Handbook states, "If a student experiences a serious or extended illness that causes the student to miss a significant number of classes or major academic assignments, including mid-term examinations, the student can provide a physician's documentation of the illness to the Dean of Student Life, who will notify the student's instructors.
The Health and Wellness Center will not provide documentation for students who miss individual classes. In these cases, students should communicate directly with their instructors."
Most of the confusion stems from the fact that the policy was different in 2005.
"For years and years and years, for a lot of courses and a lot of faculty, if a student missed a class, they had to get an illness note," Medical Director of the Student Health and Wellness Center Dr. Alain Joffe said.
However, in 2005, administrators began to notice an abuse of the system.
"It had gotten to the point where students and faculty were expecting notes for anything," Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell said. "That was taking time away from the practitioners who had to be with students who were sick at the time."
Many professors found fault with the old system.
"[Health and Wellness] would give any student a note for any reason, so it really was pretty meaningless," Introduction to Chemistry Lab Professor Louise Pasternack said. "It really didn't help me very much."
Health and Wellness, along with Boswell, revised the policy in 2005.
"What we came up with was that we would continue to provide illness notes for students who missed an important midterm or final, something really significant - or for students who were going to be out for a period of time," Joffe said.
The changes were first set in place for spring of 2006, and faculty and students were notified of the new policy. But confusion has been created by the persistence of convention.
"The only recurrent problem is there are certain classes for which the faculty are requiring that any absence be excused, particularly the language classes," Boswell said.
In these situations, Boswell said she tries to be flexible.
"If the faculty member is very, very insistent that a note be provided, I will confirm with the Health Center that the student [visited them] and send a note to the faculty," she said.
According to Joffe, at the beginning of each semester, students are reminded by mass e-mail of the current policy.
"I don't know how many students don't open that e-mail or kind of look at it and say, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' figuring they don't need it and then find themselves confused," Joffe said.
Boswell is considering posting the policy in one of the upcoming Daily Announcements sent to students.
Attendance makes up a significant portion of most grades, particularly for labs and language classes. For labs, a great deal of physical interaction and participation is required of the student, and in language classes, attendance contributes to immersion in the language.
"Communication really is the goal of learning a language," Spanish Elements Lecturer Michelle Tracy said.
"Students with good attendance records tend to get more practice both hearing and speaking the language."
Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of German Language Instruction Deborah Mifflin addressed the fact that most of the professors still following the old policy seem to be language professors.
"In the language program it's on our syllabus [to require notes after three absences], and we all follow the same rules. But it's possible that some TAs are confused or it's possible that an individual professor has decided that it's necessary to get a note."
The new policy has worked well for many professors.
"I don't think I would need a note, even if notes were available, for a student who misses a single lab period," Greco said. "Limiting students to two absences for the entire semester and requiring them to still turn in the assignment, to me, works better than making everybody go and see a doctor to get a note."
Surprisingly, the trust endowed on students has not yet proven to be a challenge, according to Boswell.
But students are well aware of the opportunities for abuse of the policy, especially for large lecture classes.
"Unless a professor [of a lecture] saw you after class or something, there wouldn't be any legitimate way for the professor to check that you've actually been sick," Kim said.
Joffe believes that this must be accepted.
"If someone wants an illness note because they didn't do their work, then that student's going to get that note under any system. It doesn't make much a difference in policy. I don't feel like students are manipulating us."
"If a student can lie to Health and Wellness, they can lie to us," Pasternack said. "But here at Hopkins, you guys are good kids. You generally don't lie . . . really!"
Boswell and Joffe have reminded students of the consequences of taking advantage of the system.
"Misrepresenting your personal circumstances to a faculty member or any University official constitutes academic dishonesty and is grounds for action by the Academic Ethics Board," reads the 2006 letter to undergraduates.
Many students know that missing class is never a good idea.
"Quite honestly, if you don't go to class, it's going to hurt you," Jabbari said.
The key piece of advice students should remember is to contact their professor as soon as they know they will miss a day of class.
"We're all online almost 24/7," Mifflin said. "I know that students are easily plugged in. Even if they are sick in bed, they're doing e-mails."
