A push by Ball State University's administration to schedule more Friday classes has been met with conflict between energy efficiency and student convenience.
Associate Provost Marilyn Buck said scheduling more Friday classes would help students plan classes and graduate in four years.
She said 50 minute classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday would allow students nine time slots to schedule classes between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. When a class is scheduled from 8 to 9:15 a.m., it takes two available time slots. Tuesdays and Thursdays have even longer classes and fewer time slots, Buck said.
"The whole goal is to reduce scheduling conflicts for students," she said. "That's the reason (for the move)."
Fewer time slots could cause students to spend extra semesters on campus because of scheduling conflicts, delaying graduation, she said.
Decisions about class lengths and schedules - 50 minutes three times a week or 75 minutes twice a week - would be up to each department, Buck said.
Moving to more 50 minute classes would leave space for department chairs if they needed it, Buck said.
"Departments are given first priority for classrooms," Buck said. "When those are filled, then those spaces will be open to the rest of the university."
Buck said she hoped adjusting schedules would help people struggling to find class space.
Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities planning and management, said more Friday classes would cause a marginal difference in energy used.
"The buildings are open for business," Kenyon said. "If we shut them down, we could save money, but that's not what we do."
He said the buildings' offices were still open if classes weren't in session.
The differences in operating costs or commuting costs were not studied because they were not the issue, Kenyon said.
The issue was that the university made a commitment to legislatures to work on the low number of Friday classes, he said.
In terms of effective use of space, Purdue University was better than Ball State, Kenyon said.
"We don't have a strong argument that it can't be done because they do it," Kenyon said.
Kenyon said Ball State has a climate commitment that understands the effects commuting faculty and students have on the environment, but that does not resonate well with the state.
"They want to make sure tax dollars are used for efficient facilities," Kenyon said.
Buck said in an e-mail that the university was responsible for providing high quality education and making it accessible and affordable.
"Part of this is to ensure that students can get the courses they need in a timely manner so they can graduate, preferable in four years," Buck said. "It is true that we need to be more efficient in our use of classrooms, but the real issue for a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule of classes is student convenience and scheduling."
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