After a year without it, Mississippi State University students and faculty may once again have a reading day before exams in the spring 2003. The reading day was changed this past year from the day before exams to a day in the midst of exams, because it was difficult to staff all buildings and schedule exams and, in addition, the faculty complained about the Saturday exams. The change created more time for the faculty to grade exams and prepare for final grade reports.
University registrar Larry Dobbs told the Ancillary Affairs Committee in an interview that from his perspective as registrar, he felt this change has been helpful.
Not everyone was in agreement.
In April, the MSU Calendar Committee had a special meeting to discuss this topic. The committee voted unanimously that reading day should precede exams. The committee’s recommendation will be sent to the provost for approval before the change becomes official.
“I don’t see any problem with the provost approving it and it being reinstated unless IHL (Institutions of Higher Learning) brings up anything,” Dobbs said.
If approved, this will change the schedule from having reading day on Saturday and/or Sunday to a weekday just before exams start. The exam schedule will go back to including Saturday as an exam day.
“I think this will help out the students, giving them more time to prepare for exams,” Dobbs said.
The reinstatement will begin the spring semester of 2003.
“We cannot change anything before that because the calendar has already been completed until then,” Dobbs said.
Other matters discussed in the April committee meeting include the fall break topic and a possible four-day work week.
The committee discussed the possibility of instituting a fall break, but the issue was not decided upon.
“I don’t see any way of having a fall break,” Dobbs said. “The topic is pretty dead as far as I can tell.”
Dobbs also said, “I know Ole Miss extended their break, but extending MSU’s would mean making faculty work over the holidays, and that’s just bad PR for the school.”
The faculty would have to work over the winter break since regular work days would be cut previous to it.
“We could maybe cut a few days out and shorten the semester, but I can’t see IHL approving that,” Dobbs said.
The third topic of discussion was a four-day work week, but Dobbs doesn’t see that coming into fruition in the near future either.
“I wish we could go to a Monday through Thursday week, but there is more than one reason it wouldn’t work,” Dobbs said.
One major reason for this idea not working is the large amount of research that goes on, Dobbs said. Another reason would be that MSU would lose two time slots in the schedule, causing more scheduling conflicts and longer days of class.
On the other hand, advantages to a four-day work week would be closing offices on Friday, saving the school money and allowing faculty to prepare only one set of notes instead of two per lecture.
“I think it’s a pretty dead topic right now, but I’m going to keep pursuing it,” Dobbs said.
Texas A&M at Commerce has a four-day schedule, and other schools are looking toward changing theirs to conform to a similar schedule.
“The IHL will have to approve any recommendations we make concerning any of these topics,” Dobbs said.
The Calendar Committee meets once every five years to produce a five-year calendarand is called to special meetings such as this for future calendar changes.