Ball State University students waking up at 7 a.m. Saturday to take a final exam should take slight comfort in the fact that this is the last Finals Week that will include Saturday exams.
Due in part to the efforts of Student Government Association, Saturday finals will be eliminated from the 2007-2008 academic calendar. However, in order to make this possible, Fall Break will be shortened to one class day and a weekend.
Michael Haynes, acting dean of University College and director of academic advising, said while the calendar has not been officially released, Saturday finals have been removed.
The issue of Saturday finals has been controversial for a long time, Haynes said, and the process of changing the exam schedule went on for years.
The university is mandated to conduct a certain amount of class days and hours, he said, and changing the exam schedule to eliminate the Monday of regularly scheduled classes involved inserting an additional day of classes somewhere within the academic calendar.
Saturday finals only occur during the Fall Semester.
"It isn't as though anyone was particularly wild about Saturday classes," Haynes said. "It's just that nobody could come up with a satisfactory conclusion."
In order to facilitate a Monday through Friday exam schedule, Fall Break was shortened to one day and a weekend.
In addition to the alteration of Fall Break, the Tuesday of Thanksgiving Break will now function as a Friday. Students will attend their Friday schedule of classes on Tuesday thus creating "Fruesday."
This potentially confusing schedule change may cause unrest among the student and faculty population, Haynes said.
"I'm sure there are people that aren't crazy about this change," he said. "But it got approved so we'll just have to see how it works."
Haynes said it is very possible the academic calendar issue will come up again.
Students' feelings about Fall Break will likely affect how the revised academic calendar is received, Haynes said. Because the removal of Saturday finals coincided with the shortening of Fall Break, if enough people dislike the revised calendar and propose another change the calendar might be revised again, Haynes said.
Jennifer Jackson, junior special education and elementary education major, has taken 7:30 a.m. Saturday finals and has mixed emotions about their removal and the adjustment to Fall Break.
"I think it's a real good thing [to remove Saturday finals]," she said. "By the time Saturday rolls around that's the last thing on [students'] mind ... they're eager to get out of here and they're not wanting to study anymore."
However, Jackson does not like the shortening of Fall Break.
"I like Fall Break," she said. "The four-day weekend breaks up the monotony of school ... I guess that's the only downfall of removing Saturday finals."
While the removal of Saturday finals was approved last year, the 2006-2007 calendar had already been worked out and it would have been impractical to adjust it, Haynes said.
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