Students diligently attend classes every week, Mondays through Fridays - and then they rest. Saturdays are virtually sacred in the student world: Fewer responsibilities and greater opportunities for fun.
Unless it's Finals Week.
Students and professors deserve to end the academic semester on a Friday, a typical school day, but year after year when the calendar comes out, Saturday remain in place.
On April 28, University Senate voted 21-14 to eliminate Saturday finals, with a plan to meet the next week to resolve the issue of the extra instructional Monday. The Senate offered 2006-07 as the first year of possible implementation for the no-Saturday-finals policy. Because of that, many have been under the impression this semester would be the last calendar with Saturday finals.
But when the revised university calendar came out this month: Saturday finals appeared yet again.
So, students and professors are left with a Monday of instruction during Finals Week and a Saturday full of exams, which is not what Saturdays are for.
Certainly, the extra instructional day of Fall Semester is difficult to contend with, and no one has been able to come up with a plan that pleases everyone. However, the issue has been under debate since 2001, so it's time to find a viable solution. That's going to require the Student Government Association and the university administration working together to re-plan the schedule.
Team Us has been fighting Saturday finals since it entered the SGA office. In fact, there isn't much more the members of the slate can do - they've proposed alternate plans, met with university officials and even had the proposal passed in University Senate last spring.
What they've received in return is the response from the administration that the proposal approved by both the University Senate and SGA is not possible. To this day, no collaborative resolution has been proposed.
Basically, what we need at this point is less bureaucratic run-around and more cooperation. In the interest of both students and faculty members, a solution must be found at the next meeting of the University Senate - even if that means both sides need to do a little compromising.
And when that finally happens, at least one Saturday can be spent in celebration.
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