By Sara Berry and Jonathan Stankiewicz
The ’15 minute rule’ isn’t in the student handbook, faculty handbook or even the AAUP contract. It only exists by word of mouth from both students and faculty.
“The notion of the ’15 minute rule’ has been around for years and years. Certainly it was the conventional wisdom when I was in college,” says Vice President of Student Affairs Laura Tordenti. “There is no such policy on our campus.”
Every student has heard of some variation of the rule, where if a faculty member is more than 15 minutes late for a class, class is cancelled. Variations can include different amounts of time for different ranks for instructors, often giving those who hold PhDs or are full professors longer than the average instructor.
Dr. Candance Barrington, president of CCSU’s Faculty Senate, said, “Though there’s no official rule, it’s important to remember that faulty members do their best to let students and their departments know when unforeseen circumstances actually prevent their attending class.”
Barrington notes that a number of faculty members have set up systems for notifying students when class is cancelled. Some professors send text messages, while others email students or post cancellations on Blackboard Vista.
Thanks to the new CCSU block scheduling, with classes ending and starting within a 10 minute time period, some professors may be late going from class to class.
Jason Jones, president of the CCSU chapter of the CSU American Association of University Professors, says that it’s hard to choose between which students to dissapoint: the ones who need you after class, or the next class that’s waiting for you, especially if your next class is in another building. Either way it’s a delicate thing, said Jones.
If a student leaves before the late faculty member arrives it’s the student’s fault, no?
“If one or two students were to leave, and the rest of the students decided to stay and the professor showed up five minutes later, those two students would miss whatever the instructor covered,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Carl Lovitt.
Lovitt added that, “It would probably be best if the students decided as a group to leave after a reasonable amount of time” and that “students could even bring this up in class to ask the professor what he or she believes would be a reasonable amount of time for students to wait in class for a teacher to arrive.”
Thus, if a faculty member is chronically late, that student or class should bring it to the attention of the faculty member’s department chair, said Lovitt.
Most of the deans on campus feel the same way about late faculty; it shouldn’t happen. All agreed that there isn’t a rule on campus and that there never has been. All agreed that chronic tardiness needs to be reported to either the department chair or the dean.
Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology, Zdzislaw Kremens, who came to the U.S. in the late 90s, knew about the myth, but not the specifics for time allotments.
“My associate dean had to explain it to me,” said Kremens, who thought it was absurd to give a full professor more leeway time for being late than an associate professor.
“The bottom line is to be on time, but again people are people,” Kremens said. Being on time is a sign of respect and just like mechanics and doctors, students and faculty need to be on time, Kremens said. He recommended that if students have an issue with late faculty in his school, they should report it to him immediately.
“Yes, there are certain exceptions,” Kremens said, “But chronic tardiness is unacceptable and I will take care of it.”
Susan Pease, Dean of Arts and Sciences has heard “the little saying” since before she was in school and “probably before.” Before students go to a faculty member’s department chair or dean, they should make sure that the teacher didn’t post anything on Blackboard or tell the department’s secretary, said Pease.
“Smart students with ambition wait as long as necessary,” said Pease. “If I have a meeting with the president and he is late, I would never dream of telling him he has 15 minutes.”
“Chairs and deans need to know that chronic tardiness is a serious violation of a professor’s responsibilities. I have dealt with professors who are repeatedly late and am very clear they are expected to start class on time,” continues Pease. In an email exchange with Pease, she was adamant that she wants students to come forward if faculty are consistently late, and to bring it to her attention via phone call, or email.
Students who are waiting more than once or twice a semester need to come forward, said Pease. “I see that as problematic and I want to know about it and I will not tolerate it.”