Because of the H1N1 flu virus, UI officials have implemented a new attendance policy for students. Is it a good one? Two DI opinions writers weigh in.

Policy doomed to fail

I have a premonition for this semester: The amount of sniffling and sneezing from UI students will exponentially increase this semester. But not all of them will be sick.

As the frenzy of the H1N1-flu virus looms over the country, colleges have started to take precautions. Schools in Indiana and Washington State concocted strategies to keep sick students out of class.

On the home front, the UI has enacted a campuswide policy that completely changes the rules of missing class. Essentially, students are not required to provide official documentation for absences or late work. To patrol this asinine policy, students are encouraged to fill out an attestation form — which can be downloaded online and used for “proving” one’s sickness.

Basically, what we have here is an honor system for the laziest demographic in the country — college students. That isn’t to say students don’t display maturity and responsibility. But given the chance to exploit repercussion-free absences for an 8:30 class after a long night of drinking, I find that few would object.

And who’s to say that half of a class won’t mysteriously come down with “flu-like symptoms,” the night before a big test?

The positive is that the policy won’t last long — not after the vaccine is developed. But still, I think teachers will become overwhelmed having to keep up with late work and sporadic absences. If the university does stick with the new attendance guidelines all year, it must develop a method to record students with a multitude of absences — especially those missing several assignments or tests.

— by Michael Dale-Stein

Policy will weed out students with bad character

The attendance honor system now in place to combat the H1N1 flu may seem like a decision that can create chaos and harm. But when examined closer, this new policy is teaching our students to be ethically sound individuals. There will no longer have to be a doctor’s note. The decisions will now have to come from the individual.

And that’s the way it should be.

More so than high school, college is a place where ethical habits are integrated into your daily lifestyle. Abusing this new policy to skip class will only hurt your personal growth as an adult. This hands-off approach may seem to be ambivalent, but it rewards making the right decisions.

If a student skips class by using the new policy, then he or she will suffer the consequences.

Professors will be able to tell when a student is not holding up her or his end of the bargain. By abusing this policy, students will show that common courtesy is dead and that trust is just a word in the dictionary.

Grades are not the major barometer of one’s potential. This policy pinpoints those with good character and weeds out those whose moral imperative lacks fundamental conditioning.

As students, we always mention that the university does not put its faith in us and that they are always one step ahead in the battle for control over our lives. With this policy, UI officials are giving us a chance to meet their high expectations.

If you want to disregard my previous arguments, then I can leave you with one simple thought.

Your parents shell out thousands of dollars for your education. Let us hope that they don’t conclude that in your four years here you have lessened your ability to make positive decisions. Like simply going to class.

— by Michael Davis