Last week, The Chronicle discussed at length a critical issue that deeply concerns many Duke undergraduates: the University's proposed "short-term illness" excuse protocol. For years, "dean's excuses"-- which forced students literally to obtain doctors' notes for colds and coughs--had served as the primary channel through which students have arranged to make up assignments missed due to minor health problems; fortunately, however, this variety of dean's excuse is gone for good.
The old system, clouding the student-faculty relationship with the inclusion of both student health officials and the deans, has in years past removed an essential element of trust from the classroom and, to a large extent, has hampered the student-faculty interaction on which a university community necessarily depends. Under the new Community Standard, however, the former system makes even less sense. How can a student's word be considered his campus-wide bond, except in the case of illness? The answer is simple: it cannot. Communities of honor, like the one that we are seeking to build here at Duke, cannot go halfway.
The new excuse protocol proposed to the Arts and Sciences Council and Engineering Faculty Council this past week by Dr. James Bonk, Dean Kay Singer, and others addresses all of these problems and establishes a no-nonsense system which will dovetail nicely with the Community Standard. Only students and their instructors--rather than the discordant quartet of the previous policy--will be responsible for arranging relevant makeup work, and students will attest to their illnesses by electronically signing the Community Standard.
Unfortunately, the joint councils were prevented from approving this essential policy at last Thursday's meeting due to a lack of quorum. This failure to act is a regrettable one, as the University has largely been left in a state of "limbo," to quote Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences William Chafe. The joint councils should strongly consider calling a special session to address an issue of such university-wide importance.
The proposed excuse protocol, if passed in its current form in the coming weeks, will serve as a pivotal cornerstone in the foundation of a Duke community tightly linked together by integrity and respect. It is that sort of Duke community for which each of us should strive daily.
Avery Reaves
Trinity '05
VP of Academic Affairs, Duke Student Govenment
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