Faculty Council looks to change final exams schedule

By moving Reading Day, professors would get an extra day to grade exams.

By Katie Moritz

Published Feb. 27, 2009

The Faculty Council voted Thursday to recommend changing reading days to Thursdays, with final exams beginning on Friday.

Under the new policy, exams would continue Monday through Thursday the following week. The Board of Curators will decide this issue possibly as soon as its next meeting in April.

Council chairman Tom Phillips said this would be helpful to teachers who have to grade huge amounts of exams and essays.

"That final Friday, if not used for extreme weather or makeup tests, is still an official exam day," Phillips said. "We all now get a full additional day of grading. We were at 2.5 last year, three today and four next year."

The exam schedule change could also be useful in the event extreme weather causes MU to be shut down on an exam day.

"This fall semester we really dodged a bullet with having an ice day," council member Jay Dow said. "The logistics of rescheduling are unbelievably complex. Two fall semesters in a row, we've come within a hair's breadth of losing a final exam period. I was up till four in the morning watching the weather radar because I had a 9 a.m. exam and there was no plan B."

The council chose to amend the language to the proposed policy change by adding no commencement ceremonies should be scheduled before 1 p.m. on the last Friday of a final exam period.

Council member David Trinklein, who suggested the change to the exam schedule, said the council hopes to put the changes into effect next semester.

"The risk of bad weather is almost non-existent in spring but very real in the fall," Trinklein said.

Trinklein said the Board of Curators has the final say in changing the exam schedule.

"The Board of Curators approves the university's calendar, and this is an amendment to the calendar," Trinklein said.

The council also decided to change the wording on student evaluations given out at the end of semesters. They are used to evaluate, as well as determine promotion and tenure, for professors.

Phillips told the council he spoke with UM system President Gary Forsee about the salaries of MU professors, a subject of concern in this economic climate.

"The mistake would be to think he wasn't concerned about our salaries," Phillips said. "One of his goals is to raise our salaries. He doesn't want us to think that that's been abandoned."

Dow said the university administrators should think about spending small amounts of money to help the overall financial situation of MU.

Since funds coming to MU is under legal restrictions, making certain one-time expenditures will free up some money for the long term, Dow said.

"That is what we can do on this campus to solidify our financial position," he said. At the next meeting, the council will discuss the review of general education. Phillips wants to make sure all learning objectives set by the school are being met.

"I think we should look at it every 10 to 15 years and ask 'Is it working?'" Phillips said. "This could get good academic discussions."