Homecoming attendance policy

Homecoming is a timeless tradition at Oklahoma Christian University. The campus comes alive with returning alumni, intricate club floats, and student-led events that stretch across an entire week.

But behind the celebration, not every student is cheering. This year, a familiar tension resurfaced in a student life policy requiring all club members to attend certain homecoming events. This policy by the Homecoming Executive Committee raises a difficult question: Are there certain scenarios where having a job should be considered an excused absence from club events? 

The committee is made up of students from clubs on campus. The representatives this year are Nathaniel Whitehead, Mary Ellen Stolte, and Zoe Burmaster. 

“The committee is handed the rules from previous years, and they are charged with deciding what rules to keep and what rules to change. For as long as I have known, it has been the standard to require attendance for homecoming events. Every year, the committee sits down and adjusts the guidelines. It is not a new policy, but it is not the same every year,” said Neil Arter.

Many of the interviewees for this article said they did not pursue finding a way to get work excused because they were told it just was not allowed. According to Hannah Alsup, a member of Gamma Rho,

 “I reached out to our homecoming directors, and they said work wasn’t excused. I then explained my situation to student life and never heard back from them,” Alsup said.

Logan Murrie, an Alpha Gamma Omega member, pointed out the broader disconnect between this tradition and reality. 

“It makes me feel as though I’m not able to have a life outside of school. Everything depends on what I do in and out of school, and I can’t catch a break,” Murrie said. 

Alsup asked for rules to be enacted for students with responsibilities such as work.

“I would like to see an option for students like me to be able to get excused. Because not all jobs are flexible,” Alsup said.

 Ideally, students with jobs would be compensated for the hours of pomping and building that go into a homecoming week, for time that would otherwise have been spent earning their normal wages. However, that would require considerable budget alterations in Oklahoma Christian’s homecoming funding.

Marko Ishchenko, an Alpha Officer and student worker at Chick-fil-A, had this to say when asked about the policy issue.  

“I genuinely cannot understand how Student Life, who get paid to organize these events, expect us not to work,” Ishchenko said.

“It is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed because this policy is hurting students both in their relationship with Student Life and their ability to function as regular people with outside responsibilities,” Said Griffin Vincent, an officer of Delta Gamma Sigma.

When asked who decides what counts as an excused absence, Student Life said the policy was largely inherited from prior years. 

“The way it was given to me is when I came into the job, the previous worker gave me a packet of the job entailed. In it, it is said that work is not excusable, but on-campus study is approved.” Emily Brackett, student leadership coordinator, said. 

Brackett explained that verifying each student’s work situation would be difficult. 

“It would require us to look into every employer and contact them all to see if the students were telling the truth,” Brackett said.

To provide some flexibility, Student Life uses a percentage-based attendance system. 

“If it’s not excusable, to my understanding, we only require a certain percentage to account for people who have jobs. If we only require 80% to attend something, then 20% will be able to account for those working or doing other things,” Brackett said.

Although a complex issue, asking the question “should students be asked to miss work for homecoming requirements?”, is a great way to get the conversation started.