Purpose: 

Platt College will make good faith efforts to provide reasonable religious accommodations to students whose sincerely held religious beliefs conflict with a College policy, procedure, or other academic requirement unless such an accommodation would create an undue hardship.

Revision Responsibility: Dean of Nursing

Responsible Executive Office: Dean of Nursing

Created in Formal Policy: July 6, 2018, Reviewed January 21, 2021

Policy:

Although the Platt College, as an institution, does not observe religious holidays, it has long been the College's policy that every reasonable effort should be made to help students avoid negative academic consequences when their religious obligations conflict with academic requirements. Faculty are encouraged to excuse a student from class attendance on a holy day and to make accommodation for assignment due dates. Offices, departments, and student organizations are encouraged to refrain from scheduling college-wide or other major events on holy days, especially those dates on which people of a given tradition usually do not work or attend school.

Students seeking accommodations for class attendance or academic assignments to observe a holy day should contact their instructors well in advance with such requests. Absence from classes or examinations for religious reasons does not relieve students from responsibility for any part of the course work required during the period of absence. Students who expect to miss classes, examinations, or other assignments as a consequence of their religious observance shall be provided with a reasonable alternative opportunity to complete such academic responsibilities. It is the obligation of students to provide faculty with reasonable notice of the dates of religious holidays on which they will be absent. Such notice must be given by the drop/add deadline of the given quarter.

A religious accommodation is made to allow students to practice their religion. What this means is that the College will make a good faith effort to accommodate the exercise of your religious beliefs, but it does not mean that your accommodation will be exactly as you requested it. For example, it is a reasonable accommodation to allow you to miss class for a religious service taking place at the same time. It does not necessarily mean the College will accommodate extended periods of time to travel home to celebrate with one's family or home congregation. Students must consider that if the opportunity to participate in a religious observance exists that is an alternative to the sought after accommodation, this may factor into any decision. One example might be that a student requesting an absence from class for Ash Wednesday services at noon may not get an accommodation if there are other Ash Wednesday services later in the day when class is not in session. The accommodation ensures that students will be able to practice their religion; it does not automatically guarantee anything beyond that.

Students who are absent on days of examinations or class assignments shall be offered an opportunity to make up the work, without penalty, unless it can be demonstrated that a make-up opportunity would interfere unreasonably with the delivery of the course. Should disagreement arise over any aspect of this policy, the parties involved should contact the Dean of Nursing.

Students should coordinate taking the make-up exam with the faculty member within one week of returning back to class.  An exam taken late must be taken within 1 week and prior to the beginning of the next scheduled class date and time. In the event that an exam is taken as a late exam and it is taken using an online exam process and there is a technology failure of any kind regardless of the reason or source and the student reports that she/he could not take or complete the exam, the student must make immediate arrangements to take the exam in student services. A different paper and pencil exam may be given and the exam must still be taken prior to the beginning of the next scheduled class date and time.

If you know you will miss and exam and want to take the exam before the scheduled date, submit a “Request to Reschedule an Exam” to the faculty. The faculty may approve or disapprove the request.

The exact same set of rules apply to late assignments as are used for late exams.  All efforts should be made to avoid turning in a late assignment.

Due to the nature of the fixed scheduling of the nursing program both on campus and in the clinical setting, Platt College will make every effort to help students observe religious holidays, but the College can not guarantee success in a course if a student leaves courses early due to a prior to sundown departure.  Further, Platt College cannot control the clinical schedule or the policies and procedures of the clinical agencies in which students are assigned.  For this reason, Platt College does not have control in altering each clinical schedule in order to make appropriate accommodations.  Each clinical site has their own policies and procedures regarding clinical absences and holiday observances that must be followed.  Platt College seeks to find alternative clinical arrangements that still meet the learning objectives per each course.

Please take special note of those holidays that have been designated non-work days by the religions that celebrate them. Be aware that holy days are not fixed to a calendar because many are calculated based on a lunar calendar; there may be some variance by a day. In addition, Jewish and Islamic holidays begin at sundown on the evening prior to the first date shown.