Chapel Attendance Policy

The foundational belief of Westmont College is that “Christ is pre-eminent in all things.” For this reason, the college community gathers three times a week to worship and enjoy God. Chapel attendance is mandatory to mainain enrollment. However, students may miss up to (but not exceeding) 12 chapels per semester. Additional chapels may only be excused for the following reasons:

    • Severe medical conditions which temporarily affects Chapel attendance. Condition must be verified in writing by an attending physician or by an email to our office from the campus physician;
    • Other extenuating circumstances, such as family emergencies - please come in to the Campus Pastor’s Office within a week of the requested absence;
    • Students with children;
    • Students away from campus on an authorized academic field trip. Please note: You will not be cleared if the professor has not notified us;
    • Jury duty
    • Students cleared by the education department to fulfill student teaching or observation assignments. Please note: You will not be cleared if the department has not given us prior notification;
    • Students participating in internships that are approved by a professor and the Internship Office. Please note: You will not be cleared until a student fills out, along with the approving faculty member, an internship form that can be found on our web-pages.
    • Athletes, attending away games on recognized intercollegiate sports teams. Please note: You will not be cleared if the department has not notified us.
    • Second semester seniors are not required to attend Chapel (but we hope you will!).

Note: Work conflicts and medical/dental/physical therapy appointments (except those excused by the Health Office) do not qualify as excused absences.

To avoid registration delays, all excuses should be cleared within one week of the missed Chapel.

What constitutes missing a chapel? The following are the most frequent circumstances:

    • Being physically absent.

Others may be:

    • Arriving late. Chapel starts at 10:30 AM; students who arrive at 10:30 or later are late.
    • Writing your name and student ID illegibly. Obviously, we cannot know if you were in attendance if we can’t read what you wrote on your attendance card.
    • PARTIAL ATTENDANCE: Leaving chapel early or attending only a portion of chapel.
    • DISHONESTY: Submitting a chapel card for someone else, or seeking to submit your chapel card when you did not attend. In either case, chapel credit will be denied, and the Student Life Office will be informed of the dishonesty.
    • BODY ONLY: Being physically present, but doing things like studying, talking, sleeping or using electronic devices during chapel. In other words, merely having your body present in a chapel service does not mean you are actually in chapel. This may be the most egregious and damaging kind of chapel miss, for it not only distracts people around you, but shows crass disrespect for the worship of God.
    • If any of these fraudulent misses occur, you may be asked to surrender your chapel card to the Campus Pastor’s staff, or someone else in leadership. This may include faculty, staff, RD’s or RA’s. In these cases, chapel credit will be denied.

Students who have not completed their chapel requirements within 3 weeks prior to registration will not be allowed to register for the following semester and must file a Chapel appeals form found on the Chapel website.

Those students who are unable to return to Westmont because of failure to complete their chapel requirement must re-apply to return to Westmont.