Attendance: Class attendance will be checked in every class period. At the end of the semester, class attendance will be used in calculating the final semester grade.

Attendance records will be used to determine the final grade of students who are on the borderline between two grades (i.e., students who are within one semester point of the higher grade). In the case of a student who is on the borderline between two grades, the student with 2 or fewer unexcused absences will receive the higher of the two grades.

Students with 6 or more unexcused absences will receive the following penalties: 6-8 absences-minus one letter grade from semester average; 9-11 unexcused absences-minus two letter grades from semester average; 12 or more unexcused absences-the grade of F for the semester.

Students who fall into the penalty range will have the option of doing an extra assignment to remove the penalty. The assignment will be a term paper, the length of which will be determined by the number of absences in class: 6 absences-5 pages; 7 absences-10 pages; 8 absences-15 pages; 9 absences-20 pages; 10 or more absences-25 pages. The term paper must be of C or better quality to remove the penalty. Students who exercise this option must see the professor in advance to obtain approval of their term paper topic and instructions for completing their papers.

The following constitute excused absences: (1) illness, with a note from a doctor or the dean; (2) death in the immediate family, with a note from the dean; (3) required appearance in a court of law, with a note from the dean; (4) representing the college in an extracurricular activity, with a note from the faculty or administrative adviser of the activity and the prior approval of the professor of this course.

Please note that some college extracurricular activities do not justify an excused absence, so prior approval of the absence by the professor is required. Athletes who plan to miss class for a game must notify the professor before each absence to receive an excused absence. Students who plan to miss class for such activities as work, job interviews, job fairs, weddings, vacations, completing work for other courses, etc., should save their cuts for these purposes.

Students who arrive late to a session of the class should check with the professor at the end of that class session to be certain that their attendance has been recorded. Students who arrive excessively late to a class period or who leave class early will receive only partial credit for their attendance that day.

Auditors: Students who are auditing the course will receive an audit credit only if they have 11 or fewer absences in the class. Auditors are not required to come to class on exam days.