A prescription for clearer health policies
While the world valiantly fights against the H1N1 virus, the Hopkins campus seems to be struggling to come up with a clear and consistent attendance policy for sick students.
As if the daunting workload Hopkins students and professors face is not enough, we must also deal with the great confusion surrounding illness and attendance policies. There is a four party debate on the policy between the dean of student life, the Health and Wellness Center, students and professors. The News-Letter merely asks that Hopkins come clean on the issue and make sure that the policy is clearly communicated to students and professors.
The undergraduate student handbook states that Health and Wellness will not provide documentation for students who miss class due to illness. Students must communicate their absence directly to professors. However, if a student misses a significant number of classes or major assignments such as mid-terms or finals, he or she can give a physician's document to the dean of student life who will then notify the instructor. Nowhere is it written that students must obtain absence notes from Health and Wellness - only outside physicians. In fact, the handbook speaks strictly against students asking Health and Wellness for absence notes because it creates body-traffic that diverts attention from providing care.
However, Health and Wellness Director Alain Joffe noted that the center has been giving absence notes this year for students missing mid-terms and finals due to illness. To add to the confusion, many students still believe they are required to get documentation from Health and Wellness for missing class.
This misconception pre-dates H1N1. Last year The News-Letter ran an article about the confusion yet nothing has been done. Health and Wellness assured students that they would send a mass e-mail reminder of the current policy at the beginning of each semester to dispel the confusion. However, we have yet to receive such an e-mail during this semester.
As if the daunting workload Hopkins students and professors face is not enough, we must also deal with the great confusion surrounding illness and attendance policies. There is a four party debate on the policy between the dean of student life, the Health and Wellness Center, students and professors. The News-Letter merely asks that Hopkins come clean on the issue and make sure that the policy is clearly communicated to students and professors.
The undergraduate student handbook states that Health and Wellness will not provide documentation for students who miss class due to illness. Students must communicate their absence directly to professors. However, if a student misses a significant number of classes or major assignments such as mid-terms or finals, he or she can give a physician's document to the dean of student life who will then notify the instructor. Nowhere is it written that students must obtain absence notes from Health and Wellness - only outside physicians. In fact, the handbook speaks strictly against students asking Health and Wellness for absence notes because it creates body-traffic that diverts attention from providing care.
However, Health and Wellness Director Alain Joffe noted that the center has been giving absence notes this year for students missing mid-terms and finals due to illness. To add to the confusion, many students still believe they are required to get documentation from Health and Wellness for missing class.
This misconception pre-dates H1N1. Last year The News-Letter ran an article about the confusion yet nothing has been done. Health and Wellness assured students that they would send a mass e-mail reminder of the current policy at the beginning of each semester to dispel the confusion. However, we have yet to receive such an e-mail during this semester.
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