I'm not a big fan of kids (college kids included) cutting class for ANY reason.
What's to stop a group from traipsing off to an Earth Day march?
Kids are at school to go to school, not demonstrate, no matter how admirable the cause.
I'm with you here! Think of it this way: If I were a student who decided not to participate and attended class instead...would I be given extra credit?
The point is the students knew the rules... If they felt that strongly about going to the march, then they could have made the decision to go and suffer the consequenses. Unless the entire University was shut down for a day so those wishing to attend could go to the march; the students have no beef...and the instructors have no need to apologize.
Betcha any kids who went to the School of the Americas protests got excused absences and special recognition from their professors. That's at least what happens at Regis U-Denver.
Hundreds from PA and NJ, including more than 80 students from Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges, over 40 from Villanova and Drexel Universities, 28 organized by the White Dog Café (Phila), 25 from the Princeton Theological Seminary, more than 15 from St. Vincent's Church (in Germantown), and many more from religious orders, churches, schools, and labor unions traveled to Ft. Benning to commemorate the lives of those killed by SOA graduates and to oppose the School of the Americas.Source
As a Catholic Institution, Villanova both emphasizes the values of the Christian humanistic tradition and concerns itself with all value systems. The University attempts to develop an environment in which students, faculty and staff may experience a Christian intellectual and moral perspective, believing that the teachings of the Catholic faith are applicable in every area of human activity
"...the teachings of the Catholic faith are applicable in every area of human activity."