November 11, 2019

Dear University of Oregon Faculty Members,

I hope the fall term is treating you well and that you have all settled into your classes, your research, and your scholarly activities this year.

I am writing to remind you that we have a number of students at UO who are members of the Oregon National Guard or involved in other active duty military service. These are students who serve our country with distinction, and we should all appreciate and value their service. Sometimes, these students have to participate in mandatory drills and exercises, and some may even get called into active duty status, forcing them to miss classes and possibly make changes to their academic schedules on short notice.

Students who are in the service carry the responsibility of letting faculty members know about their military schedules, and working with their instructors when they have conflicts. But sometimes, military deployments and the realities around when they might occur can be difficult to predict. Instructors should make reasonable, good-faith efforts to accommodate students who are deployed or who have to participate in mandatory drills or exercises.

If a deployment or other military commitments cause too many absences, instructors should consult the following UO policy regarding students who have military service. The policy states:

Military Duty Refund Policy
Any student service member or National Guard member with orders to report for active military duty may withdraw at any time during the term and receive a full refund. If sufficient course work has been accomplished and the instructor feels justified, the instructor may either grant credit for the course work completed and assign a grade or arrange for the student to take an incomplete. In either of these cases, no refund will be given. The student may use a combination of these options.

Thank you for taking the time to review our policy. If you have any questions about the policy or this email, please contact UO Registrar Julia Pomerenk at jpom@uoregon.edu or her executive assistant Kaira Chandler at kaira@uoregon.edu.

Best wishes,

Patrick Phillips
Provost and Senior Vice President