Middbrief: Old Chapel to add extra reading day to finals

In an all-campus email sent last Thursday, the College announced the addition of one reading day to the exam schedule, effective beginning with the fall exam schedule of 2011.

“The change is designed to provide more flex in what feels like a very compressed week of exams,” explained Vice President for Administration Tim Spears.

The additional day will fall on a Thursday, allowing for a one day break in the middle of the exam period.

In addition to relieving students’ stress, the policy also aims to create a better schedule for the release of fall term grades.

“Students were receiving their fall grades at the beginning of Winter Term, which meant that students who earned failing grades and were required to take time off had to turn around and go home,” wrote Spears in an email.

Under the new calendar, faculty will be required to submit grades earlier and students will receive them before returning to campus for the winter term.

Faculty members hope that the added day will give students a more adequate time frame to work on assignments and study for exams.

“Some faculty feel that the quality of student work has diminished since the College shortened the exam period a couple years ago,” wrote Spears in an email.

Faculty Council voted to shorten the exam period from nine to six days in February 2009, and the policy took effect during the fall semester of 2009.

Spears also commented that the addition of an extra day in the academic calendar will have a “negligible” effect on College finances.

The decision was made with the input of the Student Government Association (SGA) and Faculty Council. Spears explained that after a discussion within these bodies and the academic administration, the proposition was sent to the Calendar Committee.

“By the time the matter got to the Calendar Committee, it had the support of all who had discussed it,” wrote Spears. “The question for the Calendar Committee was whether revising the calendar in this way was logistically possible. It was, and so we made the change.”