If you were hanging out in Gainesville (or anywhere in Central Florida for that matter) the week leading up to Spring Break, chances are you were in some way affected by the flu, whether you knew someone who had it or was inflicted with it yourself. Affectionately dubbed "The UF Plague", even those with flu shots didn't necessarily escape catching symptoms of what was a feverish, achey, cold-like illness that made moving, eating or even opening your eyes seem impossible.

I happened to get hit with it just three days before I was scheduled to leave for Spring Break. Three days to make a full recovery or risk the possibility of losing a huge non-refundable deposit for a paid-in-full cruise. Spoiler alert...I was fine by the time we had to leave. But still, it was frustrating to be sick not only with Spring Break approaching, but with exams and pre-break projects all due right before heading out.

I can't blame any one person for getting me sick, because not only is it almost impossible to trace but it's also not like people go around purposefully trying to give strangers the flu. But I realized that there's a problem when a simple illness can spread so fast that it gets its own nickname. And that problem lies with UF's attendance policy.

Attendance rules change from class to class, but for the most part, you're allowed one to two excused absences (sometimes zero) with no chance of getting make-up work unless you present a doctor's note. It seems fair on paper but is impractical in execution.

For one thing, getting a doctor's note to get an absence waived is a pain. I had a hard enough time getting into the shower when I was sick, getting in my car to go wait sitting up in a cold doctor's office for hours would've been torture. The crazy thing is, I did suck it up and go to the doctor, only to be told that their printer was out of ink so my prescription would be called in and my doctor's note would not exist.

The other problem is that sometimes a sickness isn't able to be diagnosed. A fever may just be the result of a virus rather than a bacterial infection, and a visit to the doctor does nothing...you can't get a prescription, you can't get a diagnosis. What if you have a nighttime exam and come down with your illness right around mid-afternoon....what do you do then?

And even if you can get an absence excused, that doesn't mean you're consequence-free. Being absent because of sickness means missing notes or other material that may not ever be repeated again. The school makes it very clear that students are responsible for any work they miss, but making that up can be tough. Copying notes is hardly effective without the explanations that go with them, and study materials are rarely readily-available for those that are behind. Honestly, with all of that in mind, I don't blame people for going to class sick.

But in doing so, they infect those around them, and create these "plague" situations. What's more important, UF? Attendance credits or the health and well-being of your student body? I understand that people need to be held accountable for their decisions, but the way attendance policies are structured in most classes encourages unhealthy practices. We pay for these classes ourselves, it should be up to us to decide what value we take from them. If I want to skip and fail a class that I paid for, I should be allowed to. I'm pretty sure that most everyone here is highly motivated to do well, and creating this distrusting environment isn't the only factor getting people to class.

Universities tend to be made up of people who want to be there and who want to learn and who want to succeed. We can do that on our own. Likewise, we should be able to make the decision to stay home if it means containing a sickness. Teachers should be more open to accommodating those of us who have legitimate reasons to miss class. Yeah, it may mean a little more work and a little less accountability, but it could also keep the whole school a whole lot safer.