Attendance Policy

Attendance is mandatory for every meeting, every week, for every Senator. No Senator should have any unexcused absence. If you cannot attend in person, you may attend online in Teams. If you may not attend online either, you may appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf and excuse your absence, no matter what reason you have for not being there. However, we expect a few occasions will occur where individuals are not able to attend throughout the year.

For this reason, the following rules apply:

• 2 unexcused absences will be permitted before a Senator is deactivated
• Absences are excused only when a proxy is authorized
• Only voting Senators may serve as valid proxies for any Senator
• Proxies may be designated through the proxy form or through the Membership Coordinator
• Proxies may not be designated after 12 p.m. on Tuesday

An “excused” absence is one in which you communicate with the Membership Coordinator at least five hours in advance to let them know of your absence and set up a proxy. An “unexcused” absence is one in which you do not communicate with any members of Senate leadership and/or do not set up a proxy, and you are absent from the Senate meeting.

Deactivation constitutes a temporary suspension of a senator’s voting privileges. If you are in need of accommodations in order to remain in compliance with the attendance policy, please feel free to reach out to a member of the Senate Leadership. We are here to help and want to see you all succeed!

Proxies

You can arrange for another active senator (a friend or your Committee Chair) to fill in your spot and vote for you if you know you cannot attend a meeting. Before filling out the proxy form, please let the Membership Coordinator know that somebody will proxy for you by 12:00 PM on Tuesday. If you cannot find someone to proxy for you, the Membership Coordinator can handle it. Just email them!