The Graduate School (Handbook, 1992, p. 21) expressly prohibits examinations in absentia, except "in cases of extreme hardship (usually foreign students whose visas have expired)" and with prior approval of the Dean. The document refers to examinations in which the student is absent from the University. Not documented, but nevertheless enforced, is a requirement that no examiner be absent. The net effect is that the Graduate School requires the student and all examiners to be present at the same time in the same room at the University.

Rumors persist that this requirement has been violated by one or more unnamed departments that have had a dissertation adviser connected by conference telephone, or a committee member connected by closed-circuit television. The Graduate School is seeing an increase in the number of outside committee members, hence a potential increase in pressure to repeal or ease the requirement.

The dangers of not adhering to the requirement are twofold. If the student fails an exam, he or she can contest the result on the grounds that the committee was not in fact assembled. This has occurred, and the Graduate School supported the student's claim. If the student passes an exam and someone else complains that the pass was not justified, or merely irregular, the student's academic progress (and even a degree) could be jeopardized.

On the other hand, appropriate technology can make virtual presence as effective as physical presence, and we should try to convince the Graduate School to relax its prohibition against absent examiners and perhaps the one against the absent student. Rather than proposing now how the regulations should be changed, the Graduate Studies Committee recommends that we begin by requesting exemptions for specific examinations (usually dissertation defenses). This will effectively introduce grounds other than extreme hardship. It will also build a small body of good cases to guide us in deciding how the regulation should be changed. It will also protect the Department and our students against the consequences of judgements made by improperly assembled committees.

Requests for exemptions should be made via the usual petition mechanism through the Director of Graduate Studies.