There you are, sitting in a classroom with a few classmates. Class was supposed to start five minutes ago, but the professor hasn't shown up yet. Usually, someone remarks that there's ten minutes left before everyone can leave. Someone else gets an attendance sheet started. If you sign it, they say, the professor will know everyone was in class, and nobody will be docked for attendance.
Thomas Nenon, vice provost for institutional research and reporting, said he has heard this rule, and some variations, for more than 25 years, and students have fallen for it for just as long.
"I've heard you had to wait five minutes for an instructor, 10 minutes for an adjunct [professor], and 15 minutes for a full professor," Nenon said. "I don't know how students are supposed to keep track."
If students leave after 15 minutes of waiting, professors have the ability to give those students zeroes on a quiz that may have occurred that day, even if they never told students about it beforehand, but it's up to the professor.
Toni Davis, sophomore German major, recently had a professor for a general education class exact revenge on students who left after 15 minutes.
"He gave us extra credit answers that would be on our exam," Davis said.
"If I'm [teaching] an hour and a half class and I show up after 15 minutes [to an empty class], I don't think I'd be very happy if it were an important day or exam," Nenon said. "The expectation is that professors are supposed to be there at the same time as students. Normally, they will find someone to let you know what's going on [if they are running late]."
William Dwyer, psychology professor, said he doesn't believe a policy exists.
"I think that 'rule' has been around for half a century," Dwyer said. "Each professor handles it differently."
The faculty handbook only mentions when a professor misses a class entirely.
"A faculty member who must be absent from class for any reason is responsible for seeing that the class receives instruction," the handbook reads. "If the absence is unanticipated, the chair will make emergency arrangements and notify the college dean as soon as practicable."
If a professor is habitually late, Nenon said, be sure to meet with the dean of that department and let them know the situation. However, no rules are clearly specified or named in the handbook or anywhere else for when a professor is late due to unforeseen circumstances.
"There's no rule," Nenon said. "There's just using common sense."
