Illness, Short- and Long-Term (form included)
Short-term illness: Notify your instructor(s) and your academic dean by means of the Short-Term Illness Notification Form that you are temporarily incapacitated and hence are unable to attend class or complete an assignment on time. You submit the STINF on your honor, and instructors are expected to accept your pledge that you are incapacitated. You are expected to submit the form as soon as possible to the instructor, but depending upon the circumstances, may not always be able to do so prior to the date of a missed class or assignment.
Notice to undergraduates regarding H1N1 INFLUENZA (“swine flu”):
According to guidelines established by the federal Centers for Disease Control and adopted by the University, students diagnosed with or suspected of having influenza should avoid contact with others and not go to class until at least 24 hours after their fever resolves.
In anticipation that a considerable number of students will experience the flu or flu-like symptoms this fall, the Executive Committee of the Arts & Sciences Council has given its authorization for the Short-Term Illness Form (STINF) to be temporarily modified to enable students to notify their instructors and their academic deans that they have been diagnosed with or are suspected of having influenza. Accordingly, this fall, the STINF will cover an absence of no more than five (5) consecutive calendar days of flu or flu-like illness. If the illness exceeds five days, students are expected to contact their academic dean immediately and request that a long-term illness notification be sent to their instructors.
Procedures
The short-term illness notification procedure is based on these operating principles:
- You are in the best position to judge whether you are too ill to complete an assignment or test at the designated time.
- You will act in accordance with the Duke Community Standard.
The procedure can only be used to notify an instructor of an absence from a graded exercise in his/her class due to a short-term illness which has incapacitated you. It cannot be used to notify an instructor of an absence from a class in which there was no graded exercise or an absence not due to a short-term illness. Here's how it works:
- Complete a secure online form (to be found at the end of these instructions) and submit it to a computer server. The server generates and sends an e-mail to your instructor, with copies sent to you and your academic dean. Consult the ACES Web site to view your class schedule to obtain the name and number of the course and the name of the course instructor.
- Send the notification to your instructor as soon as possible once you realize that your short-term illness has become incapacitating. Instructors expect you to submit the short-term illness form prior to the class in which the graded assignment is due or will occur if at all possible.
- Prior to, or as soon as possible after your return to class, contact your course instructor to discuss accommodations in accordance with the course make-up policy.
- Since your instructor may want to use the same graded exercise that the rest of the class has completed, you are obligated to avoid obtaining any information about that graded exercise that would give you an unfair advantage over other students taking the course.
- Your electronic signature on the form affirms your compliance with the Duke Community Standard.
ONLINE FORM: Short-Term Illness Notification Form Note: Use of the short-term illness notification procedure is monitored and faculty are advised to bring to the attention of a student's academic dean any instances in which the instructor believes the student may be abusing the procedure. In cases of suspected abuse of the system the dean may refer the matter to the Office of Student Conduct for investigation.
A note about the final exam period: Given the time limitations inherent in completing end-of-semester assignments or making up a missed final exam, this procedure cannot be used during the final exam period. You are expected to take final examinations at the scheduled times and to complete end-of-semester work by the deadlines set by the instructor unless an extraordinary circumstance interferes. If you encounter an extraordinary circumstance during exam week, contact your academic dean directly as soon as possible, preferably before the scheduled assignment or exam.
Long-Term or Chronic Illness:Trinity College recognizes that some students will enter Duke with a chronic illness, or will develop a medical condition that persists; such conditions may have an impact on academic life as well as campus life. If you have a chronic illness or persistent medical condition, you should contact your academic dean and inform her or him of the situation. Your academic dean will assist in planning how to manage your situation.
See also