Students no longer will be penalized for missing an exam to attend a loved one’s funeral if a bill passed by ASMSU makes its way through the university’s Academic Governance system.
ASMSU passed a grief absence policy bill and two other bills at its biweekly General Assembly meeting Thursday night in Student Services.
ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.
The grief absence policy bill, introduced by ASMSU Associate Provost Emily Bank, advocates for a change in MSU’s excused absence policy.
Bank said there is no university policy regulating the procedures of missing class to attend funerals and proposed the bill to create a grief policy similar to policies at other Big Ten universities.
Many students at MSU are faced with the choice of either failing a class to attend a funeral or missing a funeral for a test, Bank said.
“I don’t think any student, especially in that time of mourning, should have to go through anything like that,” she said.
The bill passed through the Academic Assembly committee Oct. 27 and is expected to enter into the Academic Governance system in the next month for further discussion, ASMSU Provost Zach Taylor said.
Also passed was a bill dedicated to creating a diversity and inclusion task force to investigate racism on campus and prevent it in the future.
The bill was introduced in the student affairs committee last week by Lyman Briggs College representative Dylan Miller, who said the task force will research diversity on campus and report back to the General Assembly with their results. Miller said after the task force issues a report of its findings, further steps can be taken to encourage multicultural involvement.
Finally, ASMSU representatives passed a bill advocating for a preferred name policy for students who wish to be called something other than their legal names.
Taylor said the policy will be most helpful for students who have a gender identity that does not correspond with their biological sex, but it also will help international students whose legal names are not easy to pronounce.
Taylor also said Academic Governance has seen a lack of student involvement, and administrators are considering whether students should continue to be involved.
Taylor said in the University Council alone, only six student seats out of 30 are filled, compared to more than 60 faculty member seats. He added it is a serious issue and students need to be involved by not just sitting in on the meetings but communicating with the university as well.
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