Although many professors already are lenient and flexible if a student has a coveted interview at a competitive company such as Google, it’s necessary to make this policy official and university-wide. Stringent professors who are unwilling to compromise only set students at a disadvantage.

Especially when the job market still is struggling, the university and professors should be as supportive as possible for students who are reaching for success. As it stands now, professors are piling the pressure on students by penalizing them for ?trying to further their careers.

Restrictions on attendance discourage students from taking advantage of potentially career-changing opportunities. It sends a signal that attending class is more important than finding a job, which simply is not true. Policies that support that kind of logic make no sense, and only defeat the purpose of going to college in the first place.

It’s not that going to class isn’t important; ?it is, but it should be much lower down on a student’s list of priorities compared to a internship interview. Unfortunately, rescheduling ?a meeting isn’t always an option and sometimes recruiters only are available at certain times.

Forcing a student to choose between good grades and an interview is unfair and unnecessary. ?A chance for a post-graduation job, admission to law school or an internship far outweighs one class lecture.

If students are willing to make up the material missed in class, they should have the opportunity to skip without worry of penalties. It’s unfair that students need to jump through so many hoops to get either professional experience or higher education.

Too often we get caught up in the process ?of getting a diploma and lose sight of the ultimate purpose: getting a job. When school and outdated attendance policies start getting in the way of finding work, it’s time to reevaluate those policies. In a day and age when jobs are difficult to come by, it’s imperative that internship, post-graduation and other interviews with professionals are excused at the university.

But ASMSU cannot amend every professor’s attendance policy.

Passing this resolution would mean nothing more than a show of support and a promise to advocate for change among the people who actually can make a policy change. Ultimately, university officials and professors across campus also need to be on board.

Although altering the attendance policy would help take some of the stress out ?of looking for work, that’s still far off. Hopefully this change makes it through the bureaucratic ?process and is implemented, because it would be well worth the effort to help students.