Power outage and granting permission to add a spring semester class

The following message was shared with Ohio University faculty on Jan. 24, 2021: 

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, the power outage that started last Friday afternoon was widespread, including the Athens campus and many of the communities surrounding our regional campuses. Last Friday (1/22/21) was also the final day to add a spring semester class that meets the full semester without instructor permission. While the registration system remained available, the power outage made access to the registration system difficult or impossible for some students and caused advising appointments to be canceled on Friday (during an already shorter-than-usual first week).

The complexity of the registration system makes it impractical to quickly and temporarily extend the window for students to add classes without permission; however, students may still add a course that meets the full semester with instructor permission through January 29. Students initiate the process to add a course with instructor permission; that request then comes to you as the instructor to approve. Given these circumstances, I am asking two things as you review these requests:

• Be aware that you may receive more requests than usual to add a course with permission, and that some of these would have been submitted Friday without the need for permission if not for the power outage and canceled advising appointments.
• Consider additional flexibility in granting student requests to add a course with permission, especially over the next few days, to the extent possible for your course(s). Please be especially mindful of situations that may impact a student’s ability to remain or to make progress at the university, such as international students who require a face-to-face course, students who need a course to reach a minimum number of hours for financial aid or scholarships, those who intend to graduate in the spring, and those who need a course to stay on track for their degree or for other reasons relevant to your students. 

For more information on how to view and approve these requests, follow the instructions in the email “Action Required: Approve or Deny Class Permission Request” that you will receive when a student requests permission; see additional information at https://www.ohio.edu/registrar/class-permission, or view the instructor walk-through video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB3Z7Sj_3Oo&feature=youtu.be. You can also contact the Office of the University Registrar at registration@ohio.edu or 740.593.4495 for help. Students will receive an email from the Registrar on Monday morning to remind them of the deadline and process.

Thank you for considering this request to help our students navigate the potential impact of the power outage.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Sayrs
Executive Vice President and Provost