In June 2022, the University Senate legislated a Course Attendance and Engagement policy with the goal of increasing transparency and fairness in how course policies are applied at UO.

One challenging and important provision of the policy is to move toward reason-neutral course policies. Rather than students and faculty negotiating different excuses and entering into a range of differentiated expectations—which can be exhausting for faculty and disadvantage students least likely to ask for exceptions—"reason neutral” acknowledges that challenges inevitably happen. If “reason neutral” is working well, it should take faculty out of the uncomfortable and potentially problematic task of bestowing a kind of legitimacy on students’ reported experiences: "okay, this sounds bad, you’re excused”; “this sounds less credible, I can’t excuse you.”

Learn more about this policy and see responses to several FAQs.

The Senate and its committees continue to discuss the implications of the policy, how faculty are enacting it in spirit and practice, and ways to refine it over time. The Senate and TEP will host a forum to learn about instructors' experiences with the new policy, share sample course policies, and think through issues like late work and emergencies.