At least one student who declared her absence because of flu-like symptoms via the Student Service Centre (SSC) has come into conflict with a professor, who required a doctor’s notes in order to make up any exams and assignments missed due to illness.

“I registered on the SSC that I was taking an absence starting on the 18th,” said Natasha Milosevich, a second-year Science student who found herself exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

Milosevich had missed a lab, a midterm and a tutorial because of her illness. The only opposition to her SSC absence declaration came from a psychology professor who, according to Milosevich, stated that if you fall ill, “you must contact her before the midterm and have a doctor’s note or details describing your dealing with student health.”

However, Milosevich followed the UBC Student Health Service’s guidelines, which maintain that a doctor’s note is not required, registered on the SSC, and rested at home until her illness subsided.

When she returned to class, she had e-mailed her professor about when she could make up her midterm, but her professor demanded a doctor’s note to prove that she was actually sick. After a flurry of back-and-forth e-mails between the two, Milosevich finally contacted UBC Student Health to ask if she could get a doctor’s note after the fact. They refused.

“They believed I had the flu, but their policy is that they are writing off these notes altogether because it would take up too much time and resources,” Milosevich said.

Unable to get the note she required, Milosevich booked an appointment with a UBC doctor and pleaded her case once again. The doctor still refused to write her a note, citing current UBC Student Health policy. He instead provided Milosevich with his personal phone number and told her to get her professor to contact him if she still refused to allow Milosevich to sit her exam. According to Milosevich, he went on to say that “they were having a lot of this kind of problem and that he had done this with a lot of students.”

Eventually, Milosevich was able to write her exam, but only after considerable amount of time and stress.

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