READ THIS ARTICLE. It has been written to inform the student body of a major adjustment in the academic calendar for the 2009-10 academic year. This change has been initiated by Provost Fernandes and ratified by the faculty senate as an attempt to decrease operational days without losing instructional days in light of the current economic climate.
To give context to this new decision, it is important to understand the history of our academic calendar year. A year ago the university made the choice to change from a 15-week schedule to a 16-week schedule for the 2008-09 academic year, effectively adding one week of instructional days. The change was made to allow students and faculty more time to discuss and process academic information.
Now the administration is once again changing the schedule, but this time they are taking away days most valuable to students. The new changes involve: one, the removal of the move-in day on the Monday before the start of both the fall and spring semesters; two, the removal of a reading day before exams and now labeling Saturday and Sunday as "reading days"; three, the movement of exams to one week the week after the end of classes; four, the requirement for graduating seniors to take their exams during that week, instead of early (a perk most seniors enjoyed).
These changes have been made retroactively, without the consultation of students, and are an offense to all those paying tuition and fees.
The Student Government Association has written legislation in response to this change. We request that the administration reconsider its current action and return to the 15-week system that was in effect as recently as the 2007-08 academic year and had been for many previous decades. If it is so important we save money, then we should return to the schedule that has always worked before, instead of depriving students of the days important to their education. In this legislation, SGA cites the several difficulties that will arise from this calendar change.
The loss of the move-in day poses the problem that new students will not have enough time to adjust to a brand new campus. When we are talking about 50% of a graduating class being transfer students, this is a problem. In addition, returning students will have less than 24 hours on campus before the start of classes to get settled into their rooms and buy books.
In regards to the elimination of reading days, SGA is worried about the decreased study time for students before final exams. The weekend has always been available for students to prepare for their exams, so the claim that students still have a reading day is misleading.
We are also concerned about the availability of faculty and staff if the reading days are placed on a weekend, since students need to be able to consult with their professors about their finals.
Another issue is that graduating seniors will not have sufficient time after final exams to be informed of their final grades and thus their graduation date.
These reasons and the many decades of successful and fruitful learning that took place under the old 15-week academic calendar are why we as students recommend the return to the previous 15-week schedule.
SGA was never informed of the change by any faculty member, staff member or administrator. Only by attending the faculty senate meeting, did student representatives become aware of the substantial change being made to their class schedule.
The administration, as of two weeks ago, made alterations to the calendar that will go into affect for the next academic year. SGA is disappointed that students were not consulted in the change of the academic calendar and feel disrespected that faculty members are the only entity on campus worthy of consultation in regards to our education.
SGA has been told by administrators in Academic Affairs that students will have a place in future dialogues, but given the action taken the past two years, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe this.
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