By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief
Future Chapel policy would include ways for students to make up Chapel absences if a probable Chapel Task Force recommendation is accepted.
The committee released four future attendance policy options Wednesday, all of which include the make-up option. The task force asked students and faculty to comment on the proposals, one of which will likely be chosen to recommend to President Royce Money.
“What we’re just trying to do is get something out there that’s consistent,” said Mark Lewis, chair of the task force’s form and structure subcommittee, which is studying Chapel’s basic policies of attendance, time and punishment. “We don’t want to do something like last fall,” when the Campus Life office announced major Chapel changes to the surprise of the student body.
Another change is the probability of Chapel moving to an attendance-based records system, instead of an absence-based system. Students would be required to attend a minimum number of times.
The four attendance policy options are as follows:
1. The current plan plus a chance to attend six to seven forums or special presentations that would count in place of Chapel attendance.
The current policy allows students 15 absences a semester and mandates probation for those who go over their limit. Suspension follows if a student misses Chapel two more times or is put on probation a second time before graduating.
2. GPA-based attendance. Students would receive a grade for attendance, and it would affect their grade point average. Grades could be improved through attending forums or presentations.
3. Attendance credit-based attendance. Students would receive attendance credit for attendance, and it would not affect GPA. Make-up would be allowed to gain back credit. Students would be suspended if they missed too much Chapel two straight semesters.
4. Immediate suspension policy. As soon as a student reaches the point where he or she could no longer meet the minimum Chapel requirements, he or she would be suspended for the rest of the semester with no refund of money or credit. The forums and presentations would be factored into Chapel attendance opportunities.
“That’s going to be our recommendation to Royce,” said Dr. Charlie Marler, chair of the task force. “Regardless of which one of those four, it will have a make-up component.”
Marler said only these four are being considered by the task force, but if another option presents itself, the task force is not limited to considering only these four.
The release of the proposals is the second such release in a week, and Marler and Lewis said a proposed recommendation involving Chapel’s meeting time would be released at the end of the week.
As with the previous Chapel theology proposal, Lewis said the attendance policy proposals are available through myACU. Marler said the task force has requested all responses be e-mailed to him at marlerc@acu.edu.
Both men said the task force has set no timeline on when they would narrow the list into one recommendation. The committee is meeting twice a week to discuss and release proposals for student reaction before finals, Lewis said.
“The more opportunity the students have to get that response, the better,” he said.
