Temple student told to ‘consider withdrawing’ from class by professor after missing midterm with flu
A senior hoping to graduate in May wasn’t allowed to take a make-up midterm despite emailing his teacher in advance and getting three doctors’ notes
Wednesday afternoon, Temple senior Josh Josephs took his frustration to Twitter after his professor refused to allow him a make-up exam despite Josh being sent to the hospital with the flu and pneumonia.
Josh is studying Risk Management and Insurance, but is taking Economics of Sports as a free elective.
Prior to the time of his exam, Josh says that as soon as he began to feel sick, he reached out to his professor, informing him that he would be missing class because of his illness. After not hearing back for more than a week he reached out to his professor again, informing him that he would be ready to make the commitment to do whatever it takes to catch up on school work.
His professor responded, thanking Josh for the update, and asking him to notify him of any other upcoming absences.
A few days later, Josh informed his professor that the doctors were concerned that he had the flu and secondary pneumonia. He emailed his professor again, with photos of three doctors notes, and informed him that he would be out of class again.
His professor informed him that he missed the midterm, and asked if he was planning on staying registered in the class. The Tab Temple made repeated attempts to contact the professor for his side of the story and he has yet to respond.
Josh was unaware that he missed the midterm as he was working to catch up on work for his major classes and other electives. He asked his professor if there was any chance for a makeup exam, in which is professor responded with his suggestion of withdrawing from the class.
As Josh is a senior, he is expecting to graduate in eight weeks. Even though his Economics of Sports class is an elective, he is required to pass it with a minimum grade of a 70 percent to graduate. While his professor outlined the future steps Josh would have to take to pass the class, he is still angry that he would not have an attempt to improve his grade due to the missed class. Josh took to Twitter, saying, “And this same professor is giving me a “0” on the midterm and that’s his final decision because that’s his policy?”
Temple University has no direct policy on missing classes and states that the conditions are up to the specific college and the professor. Josh brought this issue to DRS and the Vice Dean, who informed him of this policy.
Josh participated as an Owl Team Leader for one summer and says that the lack of sympathy from his professor is not something he is proud to stand for as an OTL.
Through his rant on Twitter, Josh made sure to mention Temple in all of his tweets. Temple has not responded publicly on this issue.
Josh reached out to his academic advisor and explained the situation to her. He hopes that the situation is resolved and that he earns his fair chance of passing this class. He explained that he was very interested in this course, which is why he took it as a free elective, rather than an “easy A” class, and he hopes to prove that through the hard work he puts in.
Josh tells The Tab Temple he’s not looking for any extreme considerations, but asking to makeup the exam for a fair grade before he graduates.