Dealing with a death in the family or a severe illness can be difficult for students.

Oswego State’s Dean of Students office can help students with making academic arrangements.

As of fall 2016, the Dean of Students office offers an out-of-class notice policy for students who must leave campus unexpectedly for emergency circumstances and cannot attend classes for at least three consecutive days.

These students, a family member, friend or resident assistant may call or email the Dean of Students office before the absences, rather than emailing several professors all at once. After the Dean of Students office is made aware, they contact the faculty members to tell them the student will be absent for a certain number of days in a row. When the student returns, they check in with the office and give any needed supporting documentation.

According to the Student Handbook under the Attendance Policy section, the Dean of Students will provide out-of-class notification to faculty members if notification is prior to or concurrent with the absence, if the absence is due to circumstances beyond the student’s control or absence for three or more class days and the student is absent from campus.

This policy has existed on campus for several years in the Compass after a shift from its original management by the Dean of Students office. The policy came back under its original management in the fall.

“There was a time where it made sense for this particular process to rest with the Compass,” Associate Dean of Students, Dan Roberts said. “It simply made sense for this policy to come back home here.”

Before the start of the spring semester, Roberts, along with Dean of Students, Jerri Howland, met with Residence Life and Housing RSS staff to inform them about the out-of- class policy in case their residents went to them for help finding out what to do in an emergency situation. Roberts encourages students to be up to date on their rights and responsibilities that are found in the Student Handbook.

“We don’t want to make it cumbersome for students to have to navigate all these different lines of communication while at the same time dealing with a tragedy or an emergency at home,” Roberts said. “We want to make it humane, kind, and easy for students to access so they can deal with what they need to deal with either away from campus or with their own medical situation, and still be able to reinsert themselves into the academic environment when they’re ready.”

Hannah Hess, a sophomore, experienced a death in the family last year and had to travel back home in the middle of the week. Hess did not know about the out-of-class policy. She took the extra time to email her professors while she said she could have been handling the circumstance. She said she could have used the out-of-class notice policy if she had known of its existence.

“It just added stress onto what I was already stressing about,” Hess said. “I definitely think the Dean of Students office should publicize it more and maybe put flyers around, even if it is just saying where you can find more information about it.”