by Jessica Ramirez
More than 3-thousand students are enrolled at SUNY Old Westbury. Despite the widespread diversity on campus, there is one topic that seems to have widespread support – how professors handle a class cancelation.
Students are rushing to make it to class on time. But, after running across campus on a hot day, they make it to the entrance of their classroom only to find "Class Cancelled" posted on the door.
During the first days of the semester, students are usually given a copy of the course syllabus from their professor. Aside from topics to be covered, there is also an attendance policy stated somewhere. Most of the time, a student is automatically withdrawn from the class after 3 unexcused absences.
Nothing on the syllabus states what should happen to a professor if he or she were to miss more than 3 classes. AWOL professors frustrates business student, Ehi Edobar, "I can drive all the way out here in certain conditions and for nothing..." Jasmine Ghodra, a Biology and Pre-Medical student agrees, “It is an inconvenience because I’m a commuter.” Tanisha Selden, also a Biology student says it's more than just an inconvenience, “it’s money that you’re wasting.”
When Selden was asked if she felt the professor’s frequent absences took away from the experience of the course, she replied, “if a lesson plan appears on a test, and it is not covered in class, I feel cheated.”
What can be done to prevent Professors from getting off track? Ghodra says, “they should e-mail us at least the night before class is cancelled.” Another suggestion made by Ghodra was, “if you want to cancel the class, maybe arrange another session during common hour.”