Academic Senate passes excused wellness day bill a year after its introduction

By Theresa Pratt, Staff Writer

The Towson University Academic Senate voted Monday to allow students one excused wellness day a semester. It will take at most 60 days for the policy to be approved by the provost, after which it will be incorporated into Towson’s attendance policy.

The excused wellness day started as a Student Government Association resolution back in November of 2023 as an excused mental health day bill. After it passed in the SGA, the recommendation went to the Academic Senate.

The senate voted on the resolution back in April of 2024, but sent it to the Academic Standards Committee for further review on how to integrate the wellness day into existing attendance policy. This delayed voting on the resolution until it was back on the agenda for the senate’s May meeting.

Members voted 17 in favor, eight opposed, with two abstaining for the resolution. Before the vote, members discussed three amendments to the resolution.

The proposed amendments said that instructors could select three days per semester that may not be used as wellness days, that students couldn’t use wellness days for a class with a graded assignment, and that the missed day could not surpass more than 4% of the total course periods.  

All of the amendments were struck down and the wellness day resolution passed without them.