LSU Disability Services introduced a new policy this semester designed to increase flexibility and simplify how disability-related absences are reported and accommodated. 

The Flexible Attendance and Deadlines accommodation gives students five disability-related absences and an opportunity to make up missed in-class participation points. Previously, the policy allowed for an unlimited amount of absences. 

While five is the set number, students can work with their professors and Disability Services to accommodate the number of absences that best suits the class and their disability. 

“If a student experiences a disability-related exacerbation during the semester, the plan allows for flexibility,” said Tracy Blanchard, the director of Disability Services, “[with] the possibility of extending absences through faculty discretion or with support and advocacy from Disability Services, ensuring students have what they need to manage their disabilities and remain engaged in their coursework.” 

Instead of students having to scramble for extensions during a health crisis, this plan sets up boundaries and expectations at the beginning of the semester, hoping to reduce student anxiety.

“In my experience at LSU, it is really up to the professor’s discretion on how much trouble it is successfully reaching your professor on top of getting an absence excused,” said Auryona Lomas, an information systems and analytics sophomore. 

The plan aims to balance flexibility with rigor by ensuring that while flexibility is provided, it does not violate “core-curricular standards” or essential learning outcomes of the course. 

Lomas believes an automated portal would raise comfort levels when disclosing health information.

“It would make it easier for students to stay focused on what we are all here for, which is school,” Lomas said. “Instead of focusing on explaining every little detail about every absence to even try to get professors to work with you for it can sometimes be fruitless.”

According to the Flex Plan rubric, it suggests that students can miss 15-20% of meetings. Instructors allowing fewer absences than the standard guidelines must justify this decision in the Flex Plan, linking their rationale directly to the course’s learning objectives specified in the syllabus. 

While some students see the benefits of the new plan, others worry it would only complicate the process more. 

“It is easier with already knowing the limit and how much I need to do,” said Eowyn Dautrich, a coastal and environmental sciences senior. “The only other issue is that students have to submit [absences] two business days prior.”

Many chronic illnesses, mental health conditions or neurological disorders involve “flare-ups” that can occur without warning. Dautrich expressed that some people cannot predict when they are going to have to miss a lecture due to their disability.

While the plan was designed to reduce student anxiety, a strict two-day rule can increase it for those whose disabilities are inherently reactive rather than proactive. 

“At least give around three to five business days for you to submit proper documentation in case you do need something from a doctor because it’s obviously not easy to get a doctor’s appointment right away,” Dautrich said. “Instead of having two business days to submit their absences, I would say it should be the day that you are missing … then you’re given a period if you need to prove your documentation.”

Dautrich’s suggestion emphasizes that a student’s primary focus during a health crisis should be recovery, not navigating administrative portals and deadlines while they are actively experiencing symptoms. 

She argues that this shift could transform this plan from a rigid compliance check to a functional support system that accounts for the unpredictability that comes with disabilities.  

By moving the deadline to the day of the absence, the university could acknowledge that equity requires flexibility for some conditions.

The plan acknowledges that not all disabilities are constant, catering to conditions that standard rigid attendance policies fail to accommodate.

“There needs to be a better system put in place for people who don’t know when they are going to be unable to attend class,” Dautrich said.