By Emily Leayman

SGB unanimously passed a policy, the first of its kind, for special leave from clubs and organizations at its meeting on Feb. 3.

Although the university already has an extended leave policy, it did not cover absence from clubs and organizations. The SGB-approved one will apply to all registered, Maroon and Gold level Student Government Association organizations on campus, allowing students to keep executive board positions while on extended leave.

The absences that it covers are special leave, active military duty and dwell time. Special leave is a “legitimate reason for an extended period of absence from a student club and organization,” according to the policy. Reasons include, but are not limited to, severe documented illness, religious pilgrimage, military duty, pregnancy, childbirth, and direct participation in university disciplinary hearing.

For military, active duty is when the federal or state government orders activation while dwell time is the time between active duty and reenrollment in the university.

“Basically it protects those who have to leave but can’t really communicate with the university,” said SGB president Joe Scoboria. “This is the first [policy] we ever had for every single club.”

According to Scoboria, SGB worked on the policy last week and revised it the week before it passed. He said if a student went on leave and did not notify SGA or the Office of Student Involvement, his or her executive board at a student organization could be “up for grabs.”

The policy started with the Military Club. Its president, Steven Sultzbach, and Matt Lowther of KU Student Services, Inc. worked on the military section of the policy while SGB wrote the policy as a whole.