Attendance Policy

Attendance in Writing Arts Courses: 

The classroom is a space of mutual and communal learning for both students and faculty. Students’ presence in class is essential for deep learning and getting the most out of their experience. Many activities and experiences that take place live, in the classroom, cannot be replicated later outside of class or asynchronously. For this reason, we value attendance and engagement and have developed an attendance policy that mirrors this value. That said, well-being is our priority: If a student has life circumstances interfering with their ability to attend class, our goal is to help get them the resources and support they need to take care of themselves and, hopefully, return to class.

Department Attendance Policy:

For Writing Arts courses that meet twice per week, the maximum number of permissible absences—both excused and unexcused—is six. For courses that meet once per week, the number of permissible absences is three. You cannot earn credit for a course if you miss more classes than this.  If extenuating circumstances force you to miss more than the allowable number of classes, you must speak to your instructor about the possibilities for accommodating you beyond this.  You may withdraw from the course if you have exceeded this number of allowable absences up until the withdrawal deadline; if you do not withdraw, you will receive an F for the course. 

Getting Help/Resources

If you are facing obstacles to attending class, we encourage you to talk to your instructor who should be able to guide you toward resources. Most likely, they will recommend the best “one-stop shop” on campus, and you can reach out to them right now if you prefer: the Dean of Students. They can help you navigate your options for having the best possible semester and accessing one or more resources to address your needs or challenges (technology, housing, time management, tutoring, mental health, finances, and more). Here is their contact information:

Dean of Students Office
Savitz Hall, Rm. 339
(856) 256-4283
deanofstudents@rowan.edu 

And of course, if you are struggling with mental health specifically, you can access these helpful resources:

if you or another student is in crisis, here is who to call or text: 

• Wellness Center Counselor-on-Call: 856-256-4333, and then press 2 when prompted.
• Non-Rowan options:
  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: dial 988. Their website has resources for a wide variety of people, including BIPOCs, veterans, deaf and hard of hearing folks, disaster survivors, and people who are neurodivergent.
  • Crisis text line (any time in emotional pain or need support): text 741741. You can simply say “hello” to get the conversation started. See their website for more details: https://www.crisistextline.org/text-us/ 
    • Students who identify as a person of color can text STEVE to connect with a trained counselor
    • Students who identify as Muslim can text SALAM to connect with a trained counselor.
  • LGBTQ Trevor Lifeline: 866-488-7386
• If it is an emergency, dial 911! 

For non-emergency situations, there are lots of options!

Counseling Services at Rowan:

Therapy/Counseling: Here is the Wellness Center's page, where you can find student services from the options on the left. They offer both individual and group therapy, and there are both in-person and virtual appointment options.  If you do NOT want to use your family’s insurance plan for this, tell them that, and they will offer alternatives.

Let’s Talk program: If you aren’t sure if counseling is right for you, you can make an appointment for an informal consultation through the Let's Talk program. Basically, that program lets you meet with a professional at the Wellness Center so that they can help you determine what kind of counseling or other resource would be best for your situation. This page explains the program and has links to make an appointment (they are doing this virtually right now). If the links don't work (I can't test them because I'm not a student), you can call the main number and ask to make a Let's Talk appointment; that number is 856-256-4333.