Having to get professor's permission to miss class for a conference?

[klondike]

I would greatly appreciate some advice on this probably simple issue from you kind people!

 

So I'm going to present at a conference in September after I begin my MA program, during the week, and would have to miss two classes. When I consulted my program's graduate advisor she told me she would email the instructors, and "while an instructor could refuse to let you go, none have in the past and I anticipate a positive response." The graduate handbook says if you miss class without having your absence approved the instructor could refuse credit.

 

I have to confirm my place and pay the registration fees (they're reimbursing my travel expenses so this is not a problem for me) by the 30. When I told her this and that, because of travel and to take full advantage of the conference, I would have to miss two classes, she said she would email the instructors at the end of this month "so there are no surprises." The conference is also in a relatively remote area so I have to book my tickets soon as well or they will get too expensive and I might have to pay some of that out of pocket, which I definitely don't want to do.

 

I've since emailed her twice reminding her to ask the instructors and she has responded saying I will hear from her soon, the last time was 10 days ago. So my question is: should I email her again today, or risk it and just assume the instructors will be fine with it in the autumn? I don't want to annoy her, but I also don't want to have spent money on travel and not be reimbursed if an instructor threatens to fail me from a course if I miss one session.

 

As an aside I feel like a baby having to ask permission to miss one session. This is not the way it works in Europe at all.

[TakeruK]

This sounds crazy! I am not in your field so I am not sure if this is just your program or your school. But in my field, it is not the way it works in North America at all. In my program, even with class sizes of like 10-20 students, it's uncommon to attend a lecture and find every single person registered in the (graduate level) class actually present. Every week, there is probably someone at a conference, or have a research meeting that takes priority over class, or doing field work, or needing to be physically present for an experiment etc. I have never been in a graduate class where attendance is taken/enforced. Most graduate students are treated like professionals and we are trusted to make decisions that are the best for us. 

 

For your situation, how about emailing the instructors directly yourself instead of going through the graduate advisor? I think the grad advisor's job is to follow the Graduate Handbook, but since ultimately, it's the instructor that makes the decision whether it's okay to miss class, you should talk to them directly? Sometimes the Graduate Handbook/department policies are just very strict on paper but professors are actually much more lenient when it comes to enforcing it. So, the handbook might just have the "must attend all classes" policy because having lenient official policies might lead to students taking advantage of loopholes etc, while in practice, as the graduate advisor alluded to, professors will probably be okay with it. Of course, I have no idea how your future department works so I can't say that this is the case, but I just wanted to mention that it's common for schools to have stricter policies on paper than in practice.

[bsharpe269]

I am in the US and this is not normally how it works here... usually I would just go to a professor the class before (unless it was an exam or something) and give them a heads up that Ill miss next class for blah blah reason and they say no problem. If there was an exam scheduled that day then I would give more notice so that we could work out an alternate time for me to take it. I agree that you should just email the professors and let them know that you are planning to go to the conference and want to confirm that missing class will not be an issue.

[fuzzylogician]

I read this as an extension of the "normal reaction" TakeruK and bsharpe269 describe to a case where the student hasn't started school yet and is asking someone who is not the instructor of the class they'll miss for permission to miss class. The grad coordinator can't give a student permission to miss someone else's class but they basically said there should be no problem. I don't think there is any reason to worry -- the OP can go ahead and make plans for their conference.

 

As an aside I feel like a baby having to ask permission to miss one session. This is not the way it works in Europe at all.

I don't see the issue here, but I also didn't see the issue in your original post either. It's common courtesy to let an instructor know that you'll miss their class, especially in smaller grad classes. You can "feel like a baby" if you want but why not just interpret it as being a cooperative adult and showing respect to the person who is standing in front of the class? From my reading of the response you got to your email, the way this interaction would have unfolded if you'd done it in person is you'd have told the professor you need to miss class to attend a conference, and they would have said 'no problem' and wished you good luck.

[klondike]

 

 

I don't see the issue here, but I also didn't see the issue in your original post either. It's common courtesy to let an instructor know that you'll miss their class, especially in smaller grad classes. You can "feel like a baby" if you want but why not just interpret it as being a cooperative adult and showing respect to the person who is standing in front of the class? From my reading of the response you got to your email, the way this interaction would have unfolded if you'd done it in person is you'd have told the professor you need to miss class to attend a conference, and they would have said 'no problem' and wished you good luck.

 

Well I don't know where this tone is coming from or why it is necessary. I agree that it's common courtesy to let an instructor know you'll miss class - like the others said, a week or so in advance. What does not make sense to me is that I could be dropped from a course for missing one session, and if an instructor would for some reason not want me to miss one session I would be out a lot of money for travel to an international conference that would then not be repaid. Which is why I wrote the post, apologies if you don't think it was necessary. I think part of being responsible for your own education is managing your education yourself, and taking responsibility for your own attendance rather than sitting in a row being counted.

 

Thanks for the responses - I will feel confident to contact the instructors later on.

Edited June 27, 2014 by klondike

[hnotis]

@OP, I can understand why it would make you feel like a baby having to ask permission.  There is a difference between asking permission and giving a common courtesy heads up.  Asking permission makes you feel as though you're not in charge of your own decisions/career/research because a professor ultimately has the authority to tell you that you can't do something.  Giving them a heads up means you have made the decision and you're just being courteous so as to let them know ahead of time.  I think this was a great question to ask and I agree that e-mailing your profs directly would probably be your best bet!

[fuzzylogician]

LOL to the tone bit. I'm sorry but I can't help but think that you are over-reacting. No one except for you said there was any need to let the instructor know that you'll miss class more than a week in advance. Again -- since you emailed the grad coordinator, she can't just tell you it's ok to miss someone else's class so she said she'd email the instructors. She also said not to worry. The whole 'common courtesy' vs. 'permission' thing is just taking things to literally. The way you describe the handbook rule, it doesn't say that they will deny you credit for a course for justifiably missing one class (and even if it did, it'd have to be a crazy program to actually do that, and in that case the conference travel here is the least of your worries); what is probably meant is 'if miss lots of class for no good reason, you won't get credit for the course.' I'm willing to bet that you'll have to search hard for a case where this clause from the handbook was actually invoked. 

 

With that said, I am not against people opening threads to ask whatever questions they want, but you can't complain if the answers you get aren't exactly what you wanted to hear. People who disagree with you don't have a 'tone,' they just have a different opinion.

 

I do hope things work out though; I don't think there is anything to worry about here. 

[St Andrews Lynx]

At this time of year the Graduate Advisor is probably quite busy dealing with a lot of incoming students' Q&A and admin for the upcoming academic year. So, I'd just go ahead and talk to the instructors themselves once classes start. 

 

Actually, I'd think about the situation in completely the opposite manner: first book the tickets, register for the conference and then bring a print-out of the registration confirmation email to the instructor when you inform them of about your upcoming absence. That way it proves you aren't making an excuse to get out of class - there's a valid reason why you're out of town.

 

I'd also let the instructors know of your absence well in advance. It might be that there's an in-class exam or assignment that you'd miss, and the more notice the instructor gets, then the easier it is for them to accommodate you. 

[juilletmercredi]

^I would give the same advice.  You probably don't even need the registration confirmation - by the time you get to graduate school, your professors are assuming that you want to be in class - you don't have to, after all - and that you're not going to lie to miss class.  So I would just approach the professor a week or two before the conference, after class, and say "Hey Prof X, in two weeks I will be at Awesome Conference so I'll have to miss class, but I'll catch up with classmate to find out what we covered and get the material."

 

So go ahead and book your travel.

[Sigaba]

  I think this was a great question to ask and I agree that e-mailing your profs directly would probably be your best bet!

 

The OP's GA said she handle it. Twice. Is going over the head of someone who is higher up in the food chain to dot an 'i' that probably doesn't need dotting really the best bet?