It was 2 a.m. on a Wednesday when my phone started ringing. I picked it up and my sister was on the other end sobbing, completely distraught. As any good big sister would do, I left my apartment ten minutes later, got in my car and drove three hours to Buffalo, New York, where my 18-year-old sister attends college.

The last thing that was on my mind was my 8:25 a.m. English class that I have three times a week. Instead, I was focused on if my younger sister was going to be alright. I was not worried about missing an assignment, an announcement about a project or some other thing that seemed miniscule in comparison to the well-being of my sister.

While I was occupied helping her, I did find time to email my two professors who I had classes with that day. I typed out an email detailing my early morning trip and even included a tweet I had posted about leaving for Buffalo with a picture I took while I was there that had a geo-filter and time stamp.

My earth science professor emailed me back saying she completely believed me and even included the assignment that was going to be done in class that day. She told me if I needed to take more time, it was not a problem and to let her know.

This is the response I expected to get from both professors, that was unfortunately not the case with my English class. Instead, I got a two sentence response that told me I needed to have documentation from the university saying I “have an emergency reason to be absent” and that I would have to obtain it through my adviser.

There was no acknowledgement of the message I sent, nor any statement that made me feel I was supported in the midst of this family emergency. Students shouldn’t have to go to an adviser to talk about an emergency that, most of the time, they don’t want to mention the details of to begin with. In these unprecedented times, the last thing students need is to take the time to go to their advisers and ask for a piece of paper about an emergency.

One student, Jasmine Elsify, was a freshman last year when she had a family emergency of her own. Her grandfather had passed away and while one professor didn’t ask for an excuse from her adviser, the others did. “When you’re dealing with something so emotional and harsh, why am I going to go out of my way to figure this out when your mind is not in the right place?” she said.

The response Elsify got from the majority of her professors is a normal response all across campus, but it shouldn’t be that way. Professors and SU administration need to think about the impact this requirement has on students.

When I asked Elsify how their response made her feel she said, “it felt very insincere and almost heartless.”​ She went on to say that her professor who was understanding sounded less “robotic” compared to the others.

When Elsify went to her adviser and told them why she needed to be excused, they asked for proof of death. Due to her grandfather’s passing taking place in Egypt, they were lenient about documented proof, but in no case should the university be asking for proof that a family member died.

If professors were more understanding and trusting of their students, maybe they could form better relationships and classroom dynamics.

Elsify shared a similar sentiment to my own and I think it’s one that should be adopted across campus. “Take time out of your day to put your heart into your students who are actually going through stuff because I feel like if you act this way towards students, it just pushes people away from furthering their education because it almost feels personal at that point,” she said.

Students are asked to trust SU, and to trust that it’ll create an environment where we can be comfortable. It asks us to trust all that it does, but why won’t it trust us?

Teagan Brown is a junior history and broadcast and digital journalism major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at tbrown30@syr.edu and followed on twitter @teagannbrownn.

Published on March 10, 2022 at 1:45 am