Freshman Evan Roberts sat in the Atrium on Wednesday night and studied for a communications class final, one of the six finals he will take next week.
"I have spent five hours studying today and I'm starting to get burnt out," he said.
Roberts said although the upcoming test is not one of his more difficult ones, the fact that he has tests and quizzes to study for this week — in addition to the finals — is overwhelming.
Ball State University is one of the few colleges in Indiana without a campuswide "dead week" before final exams. Purdue University and Indiana University — Bloomington both recognize dead week as a week where professors do not assign tests, quizzes or large projects.
Trey Mitten, assistant dean of students at Purdue, said the university's unofficial dead week gives students more time to study for their upcoming finals without the extra stress of other assignments.
"The students attend class, but they ultimately have less stuff to do which gives them more time to focus on their finals," Mitten said.
Ball State's Student Government Association has been working throughout the semester to get a dead week on campus. SGA Senator Kayla Pickersgill has been looking at Indiana's other universities as models for proposed legislation regarding dead week and the possibility of implementing a modified dead week for Ball State students.
"For students to learn new things all the way up to the end of the semester, then to be expected to retain all the information from the beginning of the semester makes it very difficult to take a comprehensive exam without proper time to study," she said.
Pickersgill said with the legislation they would write, SGA wants to keep the faculty's rights in mind.
"We don't want to infringe on any teachers' rights in the classroom, but we feel the purpose [of dead week] would be upheld and students would use the time to study for finals," Pickersgill said.
Freshman architecture major Anthony Bontrager said that he would appreciate the extra week, but would prefer an entirely different structure.
"Even if it was like a half-week deal, that would be better," Bontrager said. "[Dead week] could be Monday through Wednesday and Thursday and Friday would be finals."
Heather Adams, assistant professor in the department of psychological science, said the variety in professors' teaching methods would make it hard to compromise on a system of dead week that would work for all departments and teachers. Adams also said it would be hard to figure out how many students use the extra time to study.
"Another question people have to ask before implementing this system is how will the teachers' syllabi change," Adams said. "If there is a week less that we can use to teach, then we [professors] have to get rid of some of the other stuff to make room for the important information. That means cutting films, guest speakers or other assignments that make the classes less grueling for the students."
Like Roberts, freshman criminal justice major Kyle Stubbeman said if students had more time they would study.
"Right now, I'm swamped with work," Stubbeman said. "Everything from the semester is coming together."
Some students, however, agree with professor Adams.
Freshman child life specialist major Tyler Fields said dead week would give students a false sense of relaxation.
"It sounds nice, but, I don't know, students would feel like they're done with the semester and still have to worry about exams for another week," Fields said.
Freshman Zack Thompson said people won't spend enough extra time studying to warrant an extra week.
"I don't know if it would serve as good a purpose, I mean theoretically it would give people more time to finish final projects," Thompson said.
Kandice Ausdemore and Alaine Whitmire said the extra week of studying would be less annoying than having tests and quizzes up until finals.
"It would take away some stress and nervousness, especially with freshmen who may not know what to expect," Whitmire said.
'Dead Week' info
- "Dead week" was proposed by SGA three years ago under Betsy Mills' slate but fell through before legislation could be passed.
- Kayla Pickersgill brought up the idea of dead week again in early September this year.
- Throughout the semester, Pickersgill and her team have been researching the pros and cons of a dead week at Ball State and the feasibility of adding one.
- Purdue University, Indiana University, Georgia Tech and the University of North Carolina are just some of the country's universities that have one type of "dead week."
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