University Acceptable Absences
7.1 The student is responsible for providing satisfactory evidence to the instructor to substantiate the reason for absence. Among the reasons absences are considered excused by the university are the following:

7.1.1 Participation in an activity appearing on the university authorized activity list.
7.1.2 Death or major illness in a student’s immediate family.  Immediate family may include:  mother, father, sister, brother, grandparents, spouse, child, spouse’s child, spouse’s parents, spouse’s grandparents, stepmother, step-father, step-sister, step-brother, step-grandparents, grandchild, step-grandchild, legal guardian, and others as deemed appropriate by faculty member or student’s academic dean.
7.1.3 Illness of a dependent family member.
7.1.4 Participation in legal proceedings or administrative procedures that require a student’s presence.
7.1.5 Religious holy day.
7.1.6 Injury or Illness that is too severe or contagious for the student to attend class.

7.1.6.1 Injury or illness of three or more days. For injury or illness that requires a student to be absent from classes for three or more business days (to include classes on Saturday), the student should obtain a medical confirmation note from his or her medical provider. The Student Health Center or an off-campus medical professional can provide a medical confirmation note only if medical professionals are involved in the medical care of the student. The medical confirmation note must contain the date and time of the illness and medical professional’s confirmation of needed absence.

7.1.6.2 Injury or illness less than three days. Faculty members may require confirmation (I do require confirmation) of student injury or illness that is serious enough for a student to be absent from class for a period less than three business days (to include classes on Saturday). At the discretion of the faculty member (I do not accept a., but do accept b.) and/or academic department standard, as outlined in the course syllabus, illness confirmation may be obtained by one or both of the following methods:

1. Texas A&M University Explanatory Statement for Absence from Class form available at http://attendance.tamu.edu. (I do not accept this confirmation.)
   
2. Confirmation of visit to a health care professional affirming date and time of visit.

7.1.6.3 An absence for a non acute medical service does not constitute an excused absence.

7.1.7 Required participation in military duties.
7.1.8 Mandatory admission interviews for professional or graduate school which cannot be rescheduled.

Documentation Required for an University Acceptable Excuse
7.2 The associate dean for undergraduate programs, or the dean’s designee, of the student’s college may provide a letter for the student to take to the instructor stating that the dean has verified the student’s absence as excused.

7.3 Students may be excused from attending class on the day of a graded activity or when attendance contributes to a student's grade, for the reasons stated in Section 7.1, or other reason deemed appropriate by the student's instructor.  To be excused the student must notify his or her instructor in writing (I do not need the notification in writing,  rather I accept verbal communiction directly with me) (acknowledged e-mail message is acceptable (I do not accept nor acknowledge e-mail notification)) prior to the date of absence if such notification is feasible.  In cases where advance notification is not feasible (e.g. accident, or emergency) the student must provide notification by the end of the second working day after the absence.  This notification should include an explanation of why notice could not be sent prior to the class.

Interpretation and Clarification of policy specific to HORT 201: 
Notification of the Instructor:  I will not "acknowledge" absences by email, voice mail, fax or from another person calling on your behalf.  You must call and notify my directly of your absence.  You may call my work, home or cell phone number.  If you call and I am not in, leave a message with a phone number so I can call you back. 
Date of Absence:  I interpret the date of absence relative to my class to be the day the exam that is missed.  Thus, the student must notify me of the absence by the end of the second working day after the exam was missed.

If needed, the student must provide additional documentation substantiating the reason for the absence, that is satisfactory to the instructor, within one week of the last date of the absence.

Make-Up Exam Procedures
7.3 (continued) If the absence is excused, the instructor must either provide the student an opportunity to make up any quiz, exam or other graded activities or provide a satisfactory alternative to be completed within 30 calendar days (see below) from the last day of the absence.

 Schedule Make-Up Exam:  Every excused absence does not qualify for 30 calendar days to make up a missed exam.  The HORT 201 policy is that the student is given the number of days to make-up the exam equal to the number of days of the excused absence, starting with the day of the exam.  For example, if the student has a illness and an excused absence for 2 days (the day of the exam plus then next day), then the student is allowed 2 days, and the make-up exam must be taken by the end of the 3th day.  If the excused absence is prior to and includes the day before the exam, but does not include the day of the exam, then see the instructor for a case-by-case decision.  If the excused absence is for a planned event, such as sponsored activity, then the student must take the exam before departure; or if departure is such that lectures are missed, then the student may be allowed, on a case-by-case basis, to take the exam within one day after return..  Documentation of the excused absence can be turned-in at the time of the make-up exam.  If all this seems confusing, that is why I want you to call me so I can explain it to you and so we can easily work it out.

7.4 The instructor is under no obligation to provide an opportunity for the student to make up work missed because of an unexcused absence.

Appeal of Instructor's Decision
7.5 See Part III, Grievance Procedures: 45. Unexcused Absences, for information on appealing an instructor’s decision.