Date: Friday, June 28, 2013 2:48 PM

Dear Colleagues:

I’m writing to address the question of what a faculty member’s obligations are if they are planning to cancel a class session because they will be observing a religious holiday.  I’m writing now because I became aware of some confusion that some people had about this last year after it was too late to make preparations in advance and so I want to make sure that people are clear about the matter while there is still plenty of time to make arrangements for the coming year. 

The College policy on temporary leave of absence from campus can be found here and clearly recognizes religious observance as a legitimate reason for a faculty member to be absent from class:

http://artsandsciences.colorado.edu/facultystaff/absence-from-campus-temporary-approvals-required/

However, the rule stating that faculty are “responsible for assuring that all classes are covered” for days that they are off campus is set out explicitly only in cases where “a faculty member is absent from the campus because of travel.”  Thus, strictly speaking, the College policy does not require a faculty member to make sure that classes are covered if he/she misses class not because of travel, but for religious observance. 

Having said that, I think it is fair to say that there is still a professional expectation on this campus – even if not a literal College requirement -- that in such cases, the faculty member find someone else to cover the class, schedule a make-up session, or at least provide some kind of substitute educational experience.  Since I think this is also in the interest of our students, I would encourage you encourage anyone who will be teaching for your unit this year to plan to make some kind of alternative arrangements if they will be missing any scheduled class sessions due to religious observance. 

Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions,

David

David Boonin

Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities

College of Arts and Sciences

University of Colorado

Campus Box 275

Boulder, CO 80309

303 492 8571

home page: http://stripe.colorado.edu/~boonind/