Johanna Estrella, Staff Reporter
Johanna_Estrella@csumb.edu
Feb.28, 2008
At CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) the attendance policy is a questionable issue amongst students and faculty. At a university level, grading upon attendance is optional for professors to do in their classrooms. After questioning 15 CSUMB professors to confirm the attendance policy, the majority answered with a simple, “I don’t know,” or no response at all. Kathryn Cruz-Uribe, provost and vice president of Student Affairs was one CSUMB staff member to respond. “There is no system-wide nor university-wide policy that states whether or not a faculty member can factor attendance into a course grade,” said Cruz-Uribe. CSUMB faculty members usually state their attendance policy in the individual class syllabus at the beginning of their course for students to abide by. Faculties who decide not to count attendance when grading usually do so because they think that it is the students responsibility to come to class and participate in their financial investment of their education. Professors do count attendance, however, see the situation differently. An anonymous staff member responded, experience prove, “those who do not attend also do not turn in the assignments and cannot receive participation points… Students have a responsibility to attend and participate. Significant absences hurt the individual student and the class as a whole.” Dr. Maria Villasenor, a professor of Chicano Studies in the department of Humanities and Communication, stated that it is legitimate to count participation. Villasenor explained that attendance is important because students contribute to lectures and their opinion is vital for everyone else to hear in class. Notes and assignments are not the only thing that Villasenor considers important. She also said giving participation points rewards students for coming to class and showing their commitment. She stated that she constantly makes class interesting so students want to come and attend, because of these efforts class attendance is high for her. Overall, CSUMB professors agreed when counting attendance it is hard if there are small numbers of students participating in classroom activities and lectures.
