Attendance and Punctuality
Punctuality
Every minute of learning time in each class is precious, and starting a class with everyone present is a desire shared by both students and faculty. Therefore great emphasis is placed on students being on time to every class. Most faculty will reduce a student’s grade if he or she is repeatedly late.
Attendance
In Consciousness-Based℠ Education, a premium is placed on student-student and student-faculty interaction, and for this reason attendance and engagement in class discussions is central to every MUM class. In addition, priority is given to study in the presence of a teacher who can immediately answer questions that arise and pose additional questions to challenge a student working on an assignment.
Students are expected to attend and participate in all classes, except when they are sick, have a family emergency, or cannot attend for another compelling reason beyond their control. There are no “personal days” during academic blocks, and taking a class day off for other reasons will usually lead to a reduced final grade. Students should be especially vigilant with respect to days before or after holiday breaks. Plan ahead to avoid missing days due to inconvenient flight schedules.
Excused absences
Even for excused reasons, if a student must miss more than 2 sessions for a 1-credit course, 4 sessions for a 2-credit course, 6 sessions for a 4-credit course, or 8 sessions for a 6-credit course, he or she may be determined to have missed too much of the course and asked to withdraw.
In the case of illness, students should notify their faculty as soon as possible by email or telephone. Faculty may ask for confirmation from the MUM Campus Nurse or a licensed health care professional. Also, in the case of a family emergency, please notify your faculty or a member of the Department of Student Life as soon as possible.
The Associate Deans of Students are notified by the instructor in these situations. If a student has special circumstances justifying continued participation in a class in which he or she has exceeded the allowable absences, the student will need to submit a petition to the Academic Standards Committee, which will determine if the student is allowed to continue.
Unexcused absences
Repeated unexcused absences are a violation of the code of student behavior. In addition to academic consequences, students with repeated unexcused absences are subject to the following actions.
- If a student misses 6 sessions of a 6-week class, 4 sessions of a 4-week class or 2 sessions of a 2-week class for reasons other than the allowable sickness or family emergency, the student will be placed on Attendance Alert 1.
- If the student then has another unexcused absence in that class, the student will be invited to a conference with an Associate Dean of Students, who will place the student on Attendance Alert 2.
- If a student on probation misses yet another class without proper excuse, the Associate Dean of Students will call a Student Support Meeting, and the student will likely be suspended from the University.
Switching classes
Ideally all students should be in class on the first day and attend each day until the conclusion of the course, and students are encouraged to discuss in advance with their advisor the content and value of each course they plan to take. If, however, students find it necessary to change class for any reason, they may do so without penalty up to four o’clock on the second day (usually Tuesday) of each course. By Wednesday morning they are expected to be in the course that they will be taking that block. If they have switched class, they will have to make up work that they missed on the first day or two they were not present. This policy should not be used by students who wish to take a long break or holiday, missing the first day or two of class. In other words, students who miss the first day or two of a block for reasons other than switching classes (e.g., returning late from a break, taking the day off, etc.) will be subject to the policy for unexcused absences.
Withdrawal from class
Students may withdraw from a class for any reason up to the end of the first week of that class for a full time class (usually before the second Monday of the class) for a grade of “W.” Students who live on campus will be expected to engage in some kind of alternative activity approved by the Department of Student Life for the remainder of that block, unless they are sick in bed. Students may request permissions to withdraw after the end of the first week in the event they are sick or have a family emergency and, due to one of these reasons, have missed too much work to receive an incomplete. This request must be approved by one of the Associate Deans of Students and requires a note from the campus nurse or a doctor.
Meditating in class
Every student at MUM is expected to practice the Transcendental Meditation program, the core academic program of the University. Students who choose not to participate in the TM program are not eligible for continued enrollment at the University
It is a benefit of every class that students practice the Transcendental Meditation program in both the morning and afternoon classes. These meditations are a structured part of the academic day. Students practicing Transcendental Meditation who have not yet taken the TM-Sidhi program will have a 20-minute group meditation in the classroom beginning at 2:50 p.m., with class ending at 3:15 p.m. Students who have learned the TM-Sidhi program may leave class at 2:45 p.m. in order to do an early afternoon group TM and TM-Sidhi program in the student program halls, or later in the afternoon in the student program halls or the Golden Domes.
While these meditations are part of class, if a student is has any questions about the group meditations he or she should speak immediately with the faculty in the class.
The content of this page was reviewed in August 2015. More detail can be found in the MUM Catalog in the section on Academic Policies.