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MSU Ombudsman: Policy doesn't protect students who leave class if professor is 15 minutes late

March 31, 2015

When an instructor is late to class, a number of things tend to happen in the classroom.

Initially, students might be silent. They might pull out their laptops or phones to refresh their email in anticipation of word from their professor.

At around the five minute mark, students begin louder conversation and, as time drags on, the atmopshere in the room will grow tense with anticipation.

Inevitably, a brave soul will say what everyone else is thinking:

“We can leave if our professor is more than 15 minutes late.”

The so-called “15 minute policy” has been a part of the college rumor mill for years now, and is introduced every semester by students awaiting a tardy instructor.

The idea behind this “policy” is simple — if an instructor is more than 15 minutes late to class, the students can leave without repercussion.

The concept makes sense. After all, if a person arrive 15 minutes late to a medical appointment, most offices will ask you to reschedule.

But in the context of the classroom, the 15 minute policy is no more than a myth.

The University Ombudsperson website contains a wealth of information that thwarts many classroom myths, including the 15 minute policy.

According to the information available on the list of frequently asked questions, “MSU has no guidelines for early classroom departures based on faculty tardiness,” meaning that how to handle these types of departures is entirely up to the instructor.

Thus, some professors may be more lenient than others.

Although the rumor can easily be disproved through a quick search of the internet, its prevalence on campus remains commonplace.

“We are all busy people and chafe when we feel our valuable time is being wasted,” MSU Ombudsperson Robert Caldwell said. “I think it is natural that we all wish for a policy that would protect us from ... wastefulness.”

While typical syllabi don’t include information about what to do in case of a tardy instructor, the best way to avoid being marked absent or missing credit for an in-class assignment is to ask the instructor early on what their own policy is if they happen to be late to class.

The only mention of faculty attendance is listed in the Code of Teaching Responsibility, which says instructors “shall be responsible for meeting their classes regularly and at scheduled times” and “shall notify their units if they are to be absent and have not made suitable arrangements regarding their classes.”

That being said, it’s up to a student’s individual discretion on whether or not they choose to leave in the event of faculty tardiness.

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