Recently, the University amended its attendance policy for the Spring semester, revising Policy Statement 22 to make it mandatory for professors to offer students make-up work for any missed classes due to excused absences, such as being exposed to or contracting COVID-19. 
Previously, professors at the University had the option of not providing students with opportunities for make-up work. With this new rule, however, all instructors are responsible for developing make-up policies that specifically and clearly allow students to make up missed classwork. 
Students whose professors do not give them the opportunity to make up missed work can send an email to LSU Academic Affairs explaining the situation with the course code and section number.
In addition to the new make-up work expectation, professors have been asked to be generally more lenient and understanding about documentation for missed classes due to COVID-19. Since it is not always practical or feasible to get documentation of exposure to COVID-19, it’s not reasonable to ask students to provide documentation in order to receive an excused absence. 
In the long run, this change is for the better and is overall indicative of a movement towards policies that support and encourage student success. As exciting as this amendment is for students, however, I do feel for professors who suddenly have to change their make-up and attendance policies and adjust to new rules in the middle of an already stressful year.
At the very least, this policy amendment should have been implemented as soon as the University began revising policies and making exceptions for COVID-19. Students who caught or were exposed to COVID-19 in the past two semesters were forced to miss classes and yet, because of the original attendance policy (PS 22), were not guaranteed an opportunity to make up missed work. 
While the policy definitely needed amending, there seems to be no retroactive apology or plan to make up for students whose grades suffered on account of the policy prior to the change. The University has had a rough time adjusting to life under a global pandemic, and understandably so, but recently it’s felt as though the University has been trying to grab as many policy changes or PR stunts as possible in order to cover their past mistakes. 
The testing incentives, the new attendance policy and even the hopeful announcement that the University plans on returning to pre-COVID-19 conditions in the fall semester all suggest that the University is trying to boost its image despite the current situation.
Without having even started vaccinating its students, the University should probably focus more on solving the crisis at hand rather than announcing attendance amendments and outlandish hopes for the future. 
Marie Plunkett is a 21-year-old classical studies senior from New Orleans.