The Ball State University administration and Student Government Association representatives are working on possible solutions to the 2006-2007 academic calendar and the elimination of Saturday finals.
Interim Provost Deb Balogh, SGA President Steve Geraci, Vice President Chris Kurtz and Department of Political Science Chairman Joe Losco met early this week to discuss possible solutions to the calendar.
"We had a very good meeting, a very productive meeting," Losco, said. "We agreed on several important points."
Several ideas were discussed, including the elimination of Saturday finals, the shortening or elimination of Fall Break, different days being taken off, taking an academic day and rearranging the final schedule and shortening finals week to four days.
Balogh said she planned to discuss ideas that came out of the meeting with President Jo Ann Gora by the end of the week.
Losco said the group did not want to limit Gora's options to one plan, so they talked about several.
"We hope the president will consider them," Losco said, "and I am cautiously optimistic that we will find a solution."
Geraci told the Student Senate at the Nov.. 30, 2005 meeting he would focus on the elimination of Saturday finals for the remainder of his term in office.
At the SGA Student Senate meeting Wednesday, Geraci and Kurtz supported a plan adding an academic Tuesday, eliminating Saturday finals and shortening Fall Break to three days - running from Friday to Sunday.
"We discussed five or six proposals, and this is the best we came up with," Kurtz said.
Changing Fall Break would put an extra Monday on the academic calendar, allowing the last Monday of the semester to become part of Finals Week.
The academic Tuesday could be a day when the university could program special sessions, speakers and activities, Geraci said. It would be similar to the UniverCity program Kurtz said Ball State had his freshman year.
"The university has been wanting to bring it back and hasn't been able to find the time or place to bring it back," he said.
Senators discussed the feasibility and necessity of the proposal and elimination of Saturday finals. Sen.. Krista White said students in her residence hall would welcome the Finals Week changes.
"I know there were a lot of people in my hall who were extremely angry they had Saturday finals," she said.
Other senators, like Jake McAdams were concerned with about losing time off of Fall Break, the success of the academic Tuesday and Finals Week.
"For me personally, Saturday is part of Finals Week," he said. "I would rather have four days off for Fall Break than get rid of Saturday finals."
Geraci asked the senators to take the discussion back to the student population and said he would welcome ideas and comments.
"We are going to pursue that plan and execute that plan unless one of you comes up with a better plan," he said. "We won't sacrifice Fall Break if I can help it."
There is no set solution to the calendar issues at the moment, and Balogh said it was being discussed with university vice presidents and Gora.
"I'm hoping we can achieve a good solution," Balogh said. "This isn't an easy one, and there is no perfect solution. We are just tossing around some ideas to see what might be most workable given the constraints."
The concerns of the entire university community remain important to the discussion and final decision though, she said.
"I'm really sensitive to two things: the students' desire to not have Saturday finals and on the academic side not to compromise our instruction," Balogh said. "It doesn't matter to me what solution we choose as long as we address the needs of all the stakeholders."
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