There are new policies related to initiating an Instructor Drop for Undergraduate and Graduate students who have not attended your class(es) thus far.
New - Class Attendance
Effective Spring 2025, students are responsible for meeting all academic requirements of a course and following the attendance policy set by the instructor. This policy must be announced during the first class meeting and must be explicitly stated in the course syllabus. For an online or hybrid course, the first class meeting is the first day of the semester or session or as defined for that course.
Policy & Deadlines
- For in-person and virtual courses, students are required to attend the first class meeting. By college policy, faculty can initiate an Instructor Drop for any student who does not attend the first meeting of a class and does not notify the faculty of the reason for this absence within 48 hours (2 days) of the first class meeting.
- For example, your class meets MWF at 9 a.m. and the student fails to show up for Monday class, s/he has until Wednesday at 9 a.m. to explain their absence or they may simply attend Wednesday class. If a class meets at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays only, the student still has until 5 p.m. Thursday to explain their absence.
- For example, your class meets MWF at 9 a.m. and the student fails to show up for Monday class, s/he has until Wednesday at 9 a.m. to explain their absence or they may simply attend Wednesday class. If a class meets at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays only, the student still has until 5 p.m. Thursday to explain their absence.
- For online and hybrid courses, students must log into the course utilizing the specified course management system (e.g. Brightspace, Zoom, Teams, etc.) by the 7th calendar day of the term. If a student does not meet the attendance requirements and fails to provide an explanation to the instructor within 48 hours, the instructor may drop the student from the course.
You cannot Instructor Drop any student who has attended/logged into your class even one time. Please check a current copy of your roster to make sure a student has not already dropped before submitting an Instructor Drop request. Do not rely on Brightspace class rosters or class rosters you may have printed prior to the first day of classes or during add/drop week; please review your current class rosters in BearPAWS.
We can Instructor Drop these students with just your verification of non-attendance during the first four weeks of class only. After that, students will have to contact you for verification, apply for special permission, and if approved, pay a late fee to drop the course; if not approved to Late Drop, they may Withdraw until the stated deadline for course withdrawals.
Procedure
To have an undergraduate student Instructor Dropped, please complete the online Undergraduate Instructor Drop Form. Registrar staff can Instructor Drop these undergraduate students with only your verification of non-attendance.
Graduate course instructors should contact the Office of Graduate Studies (graduate@potsdam.edu) regarding graduate students who have not attended their course(s).
Again, Instructor Drops can be initiated during the first four weeks of class only.
Additional Information
Reporting Drops is Important
It is important to take the time to report this information so that:
- Seats in your classes can be released to other students who may wish to add the course.
- These students will not show up on your Progress Report and Final Grade rosters.
- Students and/or campus offices will not have to bother you later in the semester to verify the students' non-attendance.
- We can find out which students are not here this semester for accurate enrollment counts, student billing, and financial aid purposes.
Unregistered Students
Please do not allow students to continue attending your class if they are not officially registered for the course. Besides failing to show up in our enrollment statistics, the student might not be permitted to register if they procrastinate; there can also be legal liability issues when you allow unregistered students to remain in your classroom.
- Direct unregistered students to complete the online Add form before the stated Add deadlines to officially register for your course.
- If there are holds preventing registration, please refer these students to One Stop (onestop@potsdam.edu).
Student Stopped Attending
At Progress Survey time (early October, March) please report a 0.0 grade for any student who has stopped attending your class. This will hopefully alert the student to withdraw from your course by the stated withdrawal deadline.