Muhlenberg College recognizes the importance of religious expression in the lives of many of our students. Indeed, the quality and strength of religious life is one of the distinctive characteristics of the College, attracting many students to Muhlenberg.
Muhlenberg College has a long standing policy that students may make arrangements to make up course work missed due to a holiday when their religion prohibits them from work. This policy means that a student will not have the absence counted against the course grade and will be allowed to complete required assignments after returning from the absence. Furthermore, absences for religious holidays with work restrictions will not count toward the total of excused absences allowed in a given class.
There are many religious observances (for example Ramadan in Islam and Hanukkah in Judaism) that do not require that a student miss class - since work is not prohibited. However, many of these holidays impact a student's life in important ways.
Responsibilities of the instructor include:
Instructors will make sure that work missed for a religious holiday can be made up by the student.
Instructors will articulate clear guidelines for how a student may make up missed work.
Instructors will make students aware of the way in which an attendance policy allows for making up work missed for a religious holiday.
Instructors may give an exam on a religious holiday provided that there is an appropriate way for a student to make up the exam if it is missed due to the observance of a religious holiday.
Responsibilities of the student include:
Students are required to identify to the instructor, in advance, that their absence will be for excused religious reasons.
Students must make these arrangements with their instructors in a timely fashion and in a way that allows for the instructor to plan how missed work will be made up.
Students are required to make up any work that is missed.
Students must take responsibility for honestly representing their religious commitments when missing a class.
Campus chaplaincy staff is available at any time to help our community understand the role of religious holidays in the lives of students, faculty, and staff. They should be called with any questions; if they cannot answer a question, they will be able to refer to a reliable source of information.
