Religious Observance Accommodations

Students, faculty, and staff may require accommodations to observe their religious and spiritual beliefs or traditions.

Accommodations exist so that no one will suffer penalties for the conscientious observance of holy days. See below for guidance on religious observance accommodations, and please email chaplain@davidson.edu for additional support.

Holy days on which absence from work or school is common include but are not limited to the following: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the first day of Passover; Christmas, Feast of the Nativity, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday; Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Absences from class on these days because of observance of the religious holiday should be treated as excused absences. In addition, no student should be required to participate in or attend College events such as athletic contests, concerts, or outside lectures on these holidays.

The Chaplains' Office includes the dates of these major religious holidays on the religious observance calendars that are distributed to faculty, staff, and students and published on the college website. These calendars indicate those instances in which the religious holiday begins on the previous evening.

Students whose conscientious religious observance requires their absence on days other than or in addition to those named above should submit written notification of the pending religious holiday to his or her professor as soon as possible and at least one week before the holiday. Under these circumstances, an excused absence may be permitted. A student missing an examination may also be permitted to take a makeup exam without penalty, and a student with a paper due on a religious holiday may be permitted to submit that paper on the day immediately following the holiday, again without penalty.