Whenever illness or an emergency prevents a faculty member from meeting their scheduled classes, s/he is required to notify their department chair, director or dean so that measures can be taken to cover or cancel classes. Under emergency situations, faculty members should call the Campus Public Safety Office at (413) 565-1225, so that a campus public safety officer can inform students attending the 8 a.m. class that the class is canceled. If the faculty member can contact the Department Chair the previous night, s/he should do so, so that the additional time can be used to make alternative arrangements.

Faculty members are responsible to make up any undergraduate classes they miss after the first absence. A student who has a legitimate reason for not being able to meet the make-up class should be excused by the faculty member and not have the absence count against them. For graduate classes, the faculty member should provide a make-up class or other means to cover the material that was missed during the absence.