Policy Regarding Religious Holidays

The University is committed to ensuring that every student will have the right to pursue their education while practicing their faith.  To accomplish this, the Office of the Provost has undertaken the following strategic steps: 

• Stony Brook University is committed to providing the opportunity for all students to practice their faith.
• Each spring the Office of the Provost will issue a listing of major religious holidays that will take place during the following academic year.  This will ensure that faculty is aware of the major celebrations of the faiths practiced by our students.
• All student absences in order to practice their faith will be viewed as an ‘excused absence’, with no negative consequence.
• Faculty are strongly urged to avoid scheduling examinations, papers, presentations or other assignments to be due on any of the major listed holidays.  When this is unavoidable, students will be given the opportunity for an equivalent make-up.
• Ten of our largest classrooms/lecture halls are equipped with Stony Brook Capture.  All classes taking place in these rooms will be recorded and students will be able to access high quality MP3 playbacks of the full lecture
• All courses are registered on Blackboard, an online course management system.  We will request that faculty post their lecture notes for classes taking place on any of the major holidays on their individual course site so that all students can access the material.
• Students will be expected to notify their professor in advance, but definitely before the final date of the ‘add/drop’ period of their intention to be out for religious observance.  They can discuss with their faculty member at that time how they will be able to secure the work covered.
• If a student is not satisfied that they are being treated appropriately, they can reach out to the Office of the Provost to have their grievance addressed
• Faculty who intend to observe a religious holiday should arrange at the beginning of the semester to reschedule missed classes or to make other provisions for their course-related activities
• The text of the New York State Education Code will be posted on the academic calendar page on the web site of the Office of the Registrar