Jan. 6 classes
• Classes scheduled for before 6:30 p.m. will meet at the regular hours Saturday.
• Classes scheduled for after 6:30 p.m. will meet at the regular hours Friday.
Jan. 7 classes
• Classes scheduled for before 6:30 p.m. will meet at the regular hours Feb. 8.
• Classes scheduled for after 6:30 p.m. will meet at the regular hours Feb. 7.
• Professors look at different options for making up snow days.
• One professor offers a trip to the museum instead of a lecture.
• Theatre department forced to work around rehearsals when making up lost time.
Students aren’t the only people on campus worried about getting to class Saturday.
Many professors are doing more than just requiring students to show up as part of the makeup classes for time lost when Ball State canceled the first two classes of the semester.
Kevin Smith, the Department of History chairperson, emailed faculty in his department to see what they were doing for makeup classes.
He has received 18 responses so far with ideas ranging from having standard classes, posting class work online, holding office hours for students and simply not meeting. Smith said those who choose not to meet said they had made up the lost time.
Smith, who teaches a 9:30 a.m. class Tuesdays and Thursdays lost another class Tuesday when classes before 11 a.m. were canceled.
To make up, he is planning to have an extra class during the week with his students instead of Saturday.
Michael Doyle, an associate professor of history, is using the opportunity to take his American culture in the 1960s honors symposium class to the David Owsley Museum of Art to look at a section showcasing artwork from the time period.
“I’ve always wanted to take my students to the Ball State museum of art, but I’ve never gotten around to setting it up,” Doyle said.
He realized he couldn’t just hold a standard class after seeing students’ reactions the day after Provost Terry King made the announcement.
“Not only is the university requiring us faculty to give up our time and now plan curriculum, but the students are up in arms about this, too,” Doyle said. “If I just try to conduct this as yet another class, I’ll probably be the only one there and then I’m the only one who gets screwed over by this.”
Doyle said the university instructed professors to enforce attendance policies that were listed in the syllabus. If students can’t make it to Doyle’s class, it will count as one of two unexcused absences that won’t impact a student’s grade.
Though students will have to make up just the class time, professors can spend much more time planning what to do on the makeup day.
Doyle said he spent three hours planning for the trip to the museum, something he would not have had to do if classes hadn’t been rescheduled.
The Saturday classes don’t just take up time, for the Department of Theatre and Dance, the classes will use something almost as valuable — space.
Kip Shawger, an associate professor of theatre, said there are multiple rehearsals all day Saturday. Students participating in the production of “Major Barbara” have a technical rehearsal, which includes 22 cast members and around 60 staff and support members.
The play starts at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8, the second Saturday for making up class time, which could cause more conflict for students. Theater students who have to be at rehearsals will be excused from classes, but they will be responsible for making up missed work.
Additionally, an estimated 130 high school seniors will audition for Ball State’s department Feb. 8. Shawger said the department lost some space it normally uses for auditions and now must find places to host the auditions.
“It interferes a lot with what we do,” Shawger said. “But it is what it is, and that’s the directive we’ve been given by the administration. So we’re just going to try to deal with it as best as we can.”
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