Policy UW-880

DATE:    16  August 2021

TO:            Deans, Directors, Faculty, and Instructional Academic Staff

CC:            Facilities and Administrative Unit Directors, Teaching Assistants

FROM:       John Karl Scholz, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Faculty

RE:            Religious Observances

Please do not schedule exams and other mandatory academic requirements on days when religious observances may cause substantial numbers of students to be absent. Despite a long-standing faculty policy to avoid such conflicts and to make reasonable accommodations for individual cases, students continue to report conflicts in our courses that have not been addressed. Refer to the policy or this memo in your syllabus or use the campus’ recommended course syllabus template (https://teachlearn.provost.wisc.edu/course-syllabi/), where a link to the religious observances policy is already included. Please advise your teaching assistants to adhere to this policy.

Unfortunately, the first day of classes this academic year, September 8, coincides with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The first day of classes is a significant occasion and especially so this year as we return to in-person instruction. Instructors who plan to observe the holiday but are scheduled to teach on September 8 may hold an asynchronous class session or follow their department’s standard practice for teaching conflicts. No affected student should be penalized for their absence from class on September 8.

We are also asking instructors to plan ahead and exercise flexibility with students through the following actions:

• Posting a notification in Canvas or email students directly before the start of the semester to highlight the coinciding dates, our campus religious observance policy and plans to offer flexibility.
• Making any first day materials (perhaps including a brief welcome video) available digitally, via email or Canvas.
• Offering an asynchronous option for classes meeting on September 8.
• Offering opportunities to meet with students who are not able to attend the first day — e.g., regular or extra office hours, and/or welcoming activities on the second day of class.
• Avoiding scheduling meetings or events with student groups on the first day of classes.

State law mandates that any student with a conflict between an academic requirement and any religious observance must be given an alternative for meeting the academic requirement. The law also stipulates that students be given a mechanism by which they can conveniently and confidentially notify an instructor of the conflict. A student’s claim of a religious conflict, which may include travel time, should be accepted at face value. A great variety of valid claims exist for religious groups, and there is no practical, dignified, and legal means to assess the validity of individual claims.

The following three guidelines that have been developed to provide clarity for both students and instructors: (1) Announce early in the semester that your students must notify you within the first two weeks of class of the specific days or dates on which they request relief. Including this information on your course syllabus is encouraged, to make sure your students are informed of the policy. (2) Make‑ups may be scheduled before or after the regularly scheduled requirements. (3) It is understood that instructors may set reasonable limits on the total number of days claimed by any one student. Occasionally, students may not fully understand the necessity for prior notice, and under these circumstances we urge you to be as flexible as possible. Our policy seeks to be sensitive to the needs of individual students.

See the calendar below for a listing, though not exhaustive, of religious holidays. Please see secfac.wisc.edu/academic-calendar/ for UW-Madison’s academic calendar.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:

Heather Daniels, Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, 608-265-4562, sof@secfac.wisc.edu

John Zumbrunnen, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, 608-262-5701, zumbrunnen@wisc.edu

Christina Olstad, Dean of Students, 608-263-5700, dean@studentlife.wisc.edu

CALENDAR FOR FALL SEMESTER 2021

Key Academic Deadlines:
registrar.wisc.edu/dates/

Please contact the Office of the Registrar for the Apply to Graduate deadline.

[The following holidays also fall on class days during the 2022 spring term: Passover, April 15-April 22; Good Friday, April 15; Ramadan, April 2-May 1]

Religious holidays are bolded in the list above. In accordance with regent and faculty policy, faculty are asked not to schedule mandatory exercises on days when religious observances may cause substantial numbers of students to be absent from the university.

* Observances of Jewish holidays begin at sunset on the day preceding that which is listed as the holiday.

** The official date of degree conferral on the diploma will be 26 December 2021.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE FACULTY

133 Bascom Hall

admin@secfac.wisc.edu

608.262.3956

Calendar 2021-2026 (Fac doc 2795, Feb 2019) (PDF)

2021-2026 Academic Calendar TR-MWF

Print version, 2017-2021 Academic Calendar revised (PDF)

Academic calendar dates 1961-summer 2021 (PDF)

Jane Richard
Office of the Secretary of the Faculty
University of Wisconsin – Madison
129 Bascom Hall
500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI  53706-1380

jane.richard@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-3958

For questions about commencement, see: commencement.wisc.edu/
or email your questions to: commence@chancellor.wisc.edu

Apply to graduate deadline for Fall 2021: Friday, November 5

Apply to graduate deadline for Spring 2022: Friday, April 1

Final grades are due to the Office of the Registrar 72 hours after the last final exam day, regardless of whether or not a two-hour summary block exam was held. This is the deadline approved by the Faculty Senate.. For questions about final exams or submitting grades, please see the Office of the Registrar’s pages: Office of the Registrar’s pages.