Greater Numbers of Students Use Medical Excuses at Finals

A considerably larger number of students received medical excuses from final examinations last spring than in the year before, an official in the University Health Services (UHS) said yesterday.

Dr. Sholem Postel, associate director chief of Medicine and Physician to UHS, said he could give no concrete reason for the dramatic increase.

However, he said high achievers with a touch of sickness may often choose to postpone their exams to give them a better chance at getting a higher grade.

"If the student is not feeling up to punk and wants to perform his best he may ask for a medical excuse," Postel said.

He said some of this particular increase may be attributed to students who asked to postpone their exams after a student committed suicide earlier this year.

Postel said there is no credence to a theory that would link the number of medical excuses to any increase in tension in the student body.

No one in UHS is particularly worried about the development, Postel said, because it does not appear to be part of a long-term increase in the number of students asking for medical excuses.