2008 Woodie Awards
While '07 Christmas Eve make-ups are gone, debate on schedule modification continues
James Marconi
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: News
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While the college community will not have to appear Christmas Eve next semester for make-up exams, according to some the schedule that caused 731 students to protest through facebook will be a matter for debate in the months to come.
At the heart of the issue, according to Faculty Affairs Committee member James Kent, is a Faculty Handbook policy stating that faculty members cannot be compelled to work before Labor Day.
Whenever the holiday happens to fall late, like this year, it "squeezes" the academic calendar by forcing class schedules between it, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, Kent said. State regulations mandate 2250 minutes of class per semester in order for the college to give three credits for any particular course. This makes it impossible to simply cut any days out of the calendar, resulting in a proposed schedule that runs right up until Christmas.
"When the schedule gets compressed, it gets to the situation that we're in now," Kent said.
The solution used in the past was a vote by the faculty as a whole to dispense with the so-called 'Labor Day rule,' in effect enabling academic dates to be pushed back a week. The change, however, has always been a temporary year-by year deal.
While the faculty has always been good about making the requested suspension, said Kent, "the faculty has always approved that [change] on a one-time basis."
The faculty at large, however, can only vote upon measures jointly presented to them by the chairs of the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) and Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC). Because the calendar as designed by the AAC technically fit the necessary requirements of both the law and constraints of holiday timing, the full faculty was not asked to suspend the Labor Day rule for the 2007 - 2008 academic year.
Rather, after the Student Government Association voiced student complaints about winter break, the offending make-up days - which do not count towards minutes of class - were stricken entirely from Marist's schedule.
At the heart of the issue, according to Faculty Affairs Committee member James Kent, is a Faculty Handbook policy stating that faculty members cannot be compelled to work before Labor Day.
Whenever the holiday happens to fall late, like this year, it "squeezes" the academic calendar by forcing class schedules between it, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, Kent said. State regulations mandate 2250 minutes of class per semester in order for the college to give three credits for any particular course. This makes it impossible to simply cut any days out of the calendar, resulting in a proposed schedule that runs right up until Christmas.
"When the schedule gets compressed, it gets to the situation that we're in now," Kent said.
The solution used in the past was a vote by the faculty as a whole to dispense with the so-called 'Labor Day rule,' in effect enabling academic dates to be pushed back a week. The change, however, has always been a temporary year-by year deal.
While the faculty has always been good about making the requested suspension, said Kent, "the faculty has always approved that [change] on a one-time basis."
The faculty at large, however, can only vote upon measures jointly presented to them by the chairs of the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) and Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC). Because the calendar as designed by the AAC technically fit the necessary requirements of both the law and constraints of holiday timing, the full faculty was not asked to suspend the Labor Day rule for the 2007 - 2008 academic year.
Rather, after the Student Government Association voiced student complaints about winter break, the offending make-up days - which do not count towards minutes of class - were stricken entirely from Marist's schedule.
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