Proposed changes to the academic calendar could see the removal of stop day, the hallowed day of rest between the end of class and the beginning of finals. The University Senate Calendar Committee has compiled a report with a list of possible changes that has been forwarded to the Senate Executive Committee for review, said Mason Heilman, the chair of the Student Executive Committee and member of the Calendar Committee.
The Calendar Committee is charged by University Senate to set the academic calendar five years in advance, so the proposed changes wouldn't take effect until 2013 but Don Steeples, the Vice Provost for Scholarly Support, said that they could be in effect as early as the 2010- 2011 academic year.
Removing stop day has been on the table for several years, though no plan has ever made significant progress. Heilman, who supports keeping stop day, said this is mainly due to student involvement. The recurring battle has constantly divided faculty and students for years. "I think that any type of proposal eliminating stop day will be met with strong resistance from Student Senate," said Heilman.
Stop day was initially added to the calendar back when KU began finals on Saturday, to create a day between the end of term and the start of testing. Now, stop day is viewed by many of the faculty as no longer necessary since there are no longer Saturday finals.
Steeples, who admits to "raising all this brouhaha", shares this view and is for removing stop day.
There are several arguments for removing stop day. One is a concern that the students are misusing the day, choosing to drink instead of study. This isn't a hard concern to recognize with many venues around Lawrence hosting specific "Stop Day Parties."
Mark Pacey, graduate student and senator who has sat on the Calendar Committee for three years believes that this argument is invalid as students would merely shift partying from Thursday to Friday, creating very little effect.
A more prevalent argument, said Barbara Phipps, the Chair of the Calendar Committee, lies in a simple restructuring of the calendar. Removing stop day would open the calendar to some proposed changes.
These changes include moving the start of term from a Thursday to the following Monday as many of the faculty believe those two days do not contribute to class constructively, and would rather start with a full week.
Another change being considered is combining fall and thanksgiving break to again remove the two days before thanksgiving and allot a full week to students. The same as with stop day, student opinion is for keeping the breaks separate, preferring not to have continuous class with no break from August to November. "Fall break was something implemented by students, that's something that we aim to keep," said Heilman.
Another issue the faculty wants to address is an imbalance of class time between the Tuesday/Thursday classes and the Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. As it stands, the sum total minutes spent in class is slanted towards Tuesday/Thursday with one more class period than Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Eliminating stop day would remove this imbalance.
One of the options being considered as a stop day replacement is a 15th week policy, or a "dead week" where professors would be banned from testing the week before finals. This system is currently in use at the University of Nebraska, a program the Calendar Committee has studied.
Heilman believes that stop day, though the purpose has evolved over time, is still a useful day for the student body. He believes that students can use the day not just for academic purposes but also to work out logistical issues such as moving out of student housing or tying up any loose ends left over from the semester.
Pacey said he is not certain the proposed calendar will even pass through the school's Board of Regents, who have demonstrated a strict policy on 75 instructional days per semester. The current proposal has only 74.
The Calendar Committee is charged by University Senate to set the academic calendar five years in advance, so the proposed changes wouldn't take effect until 2013 but Don Steeples, the Vice Provost for Scholarly Support, said that they could be in effect as early as the 2010- 2011 academic year.
Removing stop day has been on the table for several years, though no plan has ever made significant progress. Heilman, who supports keeping stop day, said this is mainly due to student involvement. The recurring battle has constantly divided faculty and students for years. "I think that any type of proposal eliminating stop day will be met with strong resistance from Student Senate," said Heilman.
Stop day was initially added to the calendar back when KU began finals on Saturday, to create a day between the end of term and the start of testing. Now, stop day is viewed by many of the faculty as no longer necessary since there are no longer Saturday finals.
Steeples, who admits to "raising all this brouhaha", shares this view and is for removing stop day.
There are several arguments for removing stop day. One is a concern that the students are misusing the day, choosing to drink instead of study. This isn't a hard concern to recognize with many venues around Lawrence hosting specific "Stop Day Parties."
Mark Pacey, graduate student and senator who has sat on the Calendar Committee for three years believes that this argument is invalid as students would merely shift partying from Thursday to Friday, creating very little effect.
A more prevalent argument, said Barbara Phipps, the Chair of the Calendar Committee, lies in a simple restructuring of the calendar. Removing stop day would open the calendar to some proposed changes.
These changes include moving the start of term from a Thursday to the following Monday as many of the faculty believe those two days do not contribute to class constructively, and would rather start with a full week.
Another change being considered is combining fall and thanksgiving break to again remove the two days before thanksgiving and allot a full week to students. The same as with stop day, student opinion is for keeping the breaks separate, preferring not to have continuous class with no break from August to November. "Fall break was something implemented by students, that's something that we aim to keep," said Heilman.
Another issue the faculty wants to address is an imbalance of class time between the Tuesday/Thursday classes and the Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. As it stands, the sum total minutes spent in class is slanted towards Tuesday/Thursday with one more class period than Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Eliminating stop day would remove this imbalance.
One of the options being considered as a stop day replacement is a 15th week policy, or a "dead week" where professors would be banned from testing the week before finals. This system is currently in use at the University of Nebraska, a program the Calendar Committee has studied.
Pacey said he is not certain the proposed calendar will even pass through the school's Board of Regents, who have demonstrated a strict policy on 75 instructional days per semester. The current proposal has only 74.
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