Too late for class? The door’s locked! Isn't it?

In her hilarious column You won’t get in anymore Language & Culture student Ize van Gils describes how during a lecture, a professor nervously announced that students who were late for class would have to wait outside the door from that moment on. 

It led to intense outrage with the students present, even more so because it involved a mandatory class. “B-but what if I miss the train?” one of them asked in shock.

Following the column and the response to it, we decided to present the DUB panel with a statement. It read: 

Naar aanleiding van de column en de reacties daarop besloten we het DUB-panel een stelling voor te leggen. Die luidt: 
'Teachers should be able to deny students who arrive late access to the lecture hall.'

“Definitely, enough with the pampering,” research analyst Mies van Steenbergen says firmly. He’s not a teacher himself but hears a lot of teachers complain about the ‘happy hour’ during the first fifteen minutes of their classes. According to him, many students choose to leave for class at the very last minute. “If even the smallest thing goes wrong, they’re too late.”

Environment philosopher Floris van den Berg is also in favour of a ‘locked-door-policy.’ According to him, many students arrive too late, especially at the first class of a block. Moreover, a teacher who says something about it and sends a late student out, can count on huge misunderstanding.

Van den Berg also points to the fact that the university also has a pedagogic role. As far as he’s concerned, those who are late unexpectedly, can come in after the break. “If you miss the train, you’ll have to wait for the next train. If you’re late at the theatre, you won’t get in either.”

“Latecomers disrupt the class,” says medicine student Thomas Visser. “Learning not to be late is also part of professional development.”

He does set conditions to a strict door policy. Students should have access to the study material that is discussed during the missed class, for example by means of a recording. Otherwise students with a valid reason (‘like a train breakdown or a flat tire’) will be badly affected.

‘If you miss the train, you have to wait too’

Social Geography & Planning student Quintijn de Leng on the other hand says it’s ‘completely unacceptable’ to deny students access. 

He finds it important that teachers start from trust. “To just bluntly say that students need to plan better and that it’s their own fault if they’re late, I think is a rushed conclusion and not in line with the values an institute of higher education should have.”

Moreover, Quintijn rarely experiences a latecomer causing disturbance. “The norm is to enter quietly and quickly and to calmly take a seat. Nobody wants to be late, let’s not make it any more unpleasant than it already is.”

“My experience is that students try their best to be there on time, but they don't always succeed," education scientist Casper Hulshof tells us in an email

"Public transport has not been reliable for years. More students than before are living at home because of costs and lack of housing. They pay a hefty sum to attend classes at all."

As a teacher, Hulshof wouldn’t mind asking students to be on time, but he doesn’t want to ‘act like a wannabe police officer.” “Let alone start a discussion about it in class. My only condition: enter the room quietly and sit down calmly.”

‘Force majeure is real’

Many members of the panel are less outspoken and think that teachers should be able to decide for themselves whether a student is still allowed in or not after the start of a class.

Psychology student Levi Bierhuizen is one of them. He adds that teachers must also be able to understand that there may be unforeseen circumstances. "Everyone sometimes misses a bus or sleeps through their alarm clock."

Philosopher Brandt van der Gaast would not choose to have students stand outside himself. “Being on time is a question of manners and you cannot force good manners. Some teachers interrupt their class for a minute or make a joke about the latecomers who come stumbling in. But if nothing works, then locking the door might be the only remaining option.”

Pedagogue Kirsten Buist also points to the fact that students have the responsibility to leave home in time for class. At the same time she knows that force majeure situations may occur, causing students to be late.

“A student recently told me that there’s only 15 minutes in the lecture timetable to move from Bolognalaan to Daltonlaan. Without a bicycle that’s pretty difficult. Students are not in control of such things."

But when students are repeatedly late for no apparent reason, Buist says it is reasonable for a teacher to take action. "For example, letting students who arrive late collectively come in after 15 minutes, as described in the DUB column.”

Master student Life Sciences Sterre van Wierst is also enthusiastic about the 15-minute rule if late arrivals should get out of hand. Teachers could also speak up more often to say they find it annoying. "The embarrassment about it might make the student catch a train earlier next time," she says. 

But denying access altogether goes too far for her. "I think that would be sad for those many students who have to travel for almost two hours by public transport only to be put on the naughty stool. Force majeure is real." 

‘Students are only human, just like their teachers’

Lastly, Rik Vangangelt, policy officer at the Centre for Academic Teaching & Learning and PhD candidate, states that teachers can use the content and the form of the class to entice students to arrive on time. At the beginning of a lecture, the structure of the lecture is explained, the context of the material is covered and expectation management is done. "This is precisely when a teacher should try to connect with students' perceptions."

But Vangangelt also understands that it doesn’t always work like that in practice, and there will probably always be a group of students that will keep arriving late. But then he recommends teachers who have a problem with that to take a look in the mirror.

When he’s hosting workshops, the UU teachers are his students. He notices teachers showing behaviour that is remarkably similar to that of their students. Teachers for example often don’t show up without signing off. “Students are only human, just like their teachers.”