The Facts: At noon on Wednesday, September 14th, President Barack Obama will give a speech at N.C . State’s Reynolds Coliseum on his recent jobs act. Tickets will be distributed to students starting at 8 a.m . tomorrow.

Our Opinion: The rare opportunity to see the President of the United States speak at our own university should be a legitimate excuse to miss class. Teachers should not penalize students for missing classes on Wednesday, nor should students criticize teachers for canceling classes.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak on campus Wednesday at 12:55 p.m . This is his second visit to N.C . State but his first as President. Though student tickets are limited, a significant number of students will likely line up across the Brickyard Tuesday morning to obtain their tickets.

It is not the fault of students nor of the University that Obama’s speech lands itself in the middle of classes. However, faculty should understand that missing class to experience a Presidential speech is not a punishable act. Missing class for this purpose should be regarded as active learning, as going a step beyond coursework and into the real world.

Political science and business majors will benefit in their academic studies from experiencing the Presidential speech. A political event which promotes support for a Presidential reelection, while simultaneously marketing a new Act of Congress, is directly related to these fields of study. Obama’s speech will also discuss job creation and employment. Those are highly relevant topics of direct interest to students soon entering the job marketplace.

It is true that the text of the speech can be accessed afterwards through news media. However, the passion and fervor invoked by our nation’s leader can never be recreated. Students of any field of study are impacted by the government. It is important for students to be informed about current events and to demonstrate that college students are not apathetic about politics.

Some students are already complaining about classes being canceled due to the Presidential visit. These students should be sensitive to the fact that their teachers also have a right to cancel class in order to attend this event. They too have a legitimate excuse to miss class.

This visit is a historic landmark in N.C . State history. The last President to visit the University was Ronald Reagan, and it is unclear when the next visit will be. For most students at N.C . State, this is likely the only Presidential visit they will experience.

Faculty should excuse any students who obtain tickets to this historic event and miss class as a result. They should not penalize attending students for their absences Wednesday, and non-attending students should not criticize faculty for canceling class. President Obama’s visit is a rare opportunity and as many students as the tickets allow should take advantage of it.