RE: “No sense to notes,” October 22-28, 2009
To: The Editor, the Charlatan
Carleton University is a large, complex community. We care about the health of all members of this community.
It is also a clear policy of the university that we work together to find an accommodation for students, course instructors and staff when illness prevents them from making their full contribution.
Students who are unwell, particularly if they are contagious, should be staying home and getting better. This will reduce the infection of others on campus and also help the student speed back to full health.
The student should contact each course instructor by e-mail to explain that he or she will be absent for some period and may need an accommodation. The accommodation will vary with the course, student and time of year.
Sometimes all that is needed is access to course materials. At other times the student may be missing a test or other deadline.
In these cases, a medical certificate is required.
The student is expected to get the medical certificate during the illness but is not expected to bring it to the instructor until the student recovers health and returns to campus.
E-mail communication with the course instructors is crucial in making this system work for everyone.
The level of illness in the student body is being monitored this fall. While we have seen a small rise in the level of general illness on campus in the past few weeks, Carleton has yet to experience a significant wave of flu infections. The number of cases observed is within the range we would expect in any fall term.
The academic operations of the university will continue as normal until we observe a significant change in campus wellness.
Health and Counselling Services is open, seeing students and issuing medical certificates as normal. Course instructors are following customary practices for accommodating students with illness.
It is still business as usual.
We will make it clear to everyone if any of our procedures are modified to respond to a flu outbreak.
– Brian Mortimer,
assistant vice-president (academic)