The mild springtime weather is the only encouragement many students need to skip class, and recently, many professors have found fewer students attending their classes.

Scott Myers, assistant professor of sociology, said things are more difficult for him when students skip class.

“I feel the need for all students to be prepared when the exam comes. I’m not the kind of person who takes the attitude that if you miss it you’re screwed,” he said. “Sometimes that means I have more people in my office and have to set up meetings to discuss what people missed.”

Joe Geha, professor of English, also said his job becomes more difficult when students skip class.

“The difficulty for me is that I have to repeat things for people,” he said. “We lose some of the continuity.”

More students skip predominately freshman classes than upper-level classes, Geha said.

To cut down on the number of student absences in his classes, Geha said he has required attendance policies.

“I’ll allow each student a couple of unexcused absences, but then they better have a pretty good reason,” he said. “I encourage students in all my classes to make some friends in the class, so if they do skip they can find out what they missed without asking me.”

Sometimes Geha said he jokes with the students who do attend class by asking them if they want the day to count as two absences for those who missed.

“The students always want to — they’re kind of vindictive,” he said. “The way they turn on their friends is amazing. I don’t really do that, though.”

Myers doesn’t have an attendance policy, but he does have other ways of encouraging students to come to class.

“I have in-class assignments, and the students never know when they are,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to get an A if you don’t show up.”

Geha said he has some other tactics to discourage skipping class.

“I have been known to bring candies,” he said. “I give them out as rewards.”

Sometimes students who do attend class also exude symptoms of spring fever.

“I ask a question and I see in their eyes they haven’t heard what I said,” Geha said. “I raise a Mr. Goodbar and the hands go up. Werthers are also very popular.”

When students do skip class, Geha said, they often ask him if they missed anything.

“I always say, ‘No, absolutely nothing,'” he said. “I tell them to look at the syllabus. They still [ask], though, so I just tease them mercilessly.”

Myers said he doesn’t feel it’s his place to take offense at students’ skipping class.

“The way I look at it is they are consumers,” Myers said. “If you bought a season ticket, you don’t necessarily have to go to every game.”