Revisions to next year’s academic calendar were approved at the Nov. 7 Urbana Academic Senate meeting.
But some senators urged leaders to revisit and improve the university’s calendaring process to avoid regularly making changes in the future.
The 2012-13 calendar was revised to allow university officials to meet a federal student-aid disbursement deadline.
But the revision has caused a number of less-than-ideal consequences, including the addition of Saturday final exams and a condensed grading period at the holiday break. However, it does provide additional time for the administrative process used to determine student academic status.
Gay Miller, a professor of pathobiology and the chair of the Educational Policy Committee, said the changes were necessary and adopted as the “least damaging” options.
The change “needed to be made very carefully,” she said, noting the calendaring process is complicated and affects everyone.
“Every person on the committee had something to say,” she said. “We’re making what we think is a sensible recommendation.”
The 2012-13 calendar already had set the start of the school year a week later on Aug. 27 and had reduced the winter break by the same amount of time.
But those changes also affected the ability for officials to meet the student-aid disbursement deadline and the system used to assess student performance status.
Senators said the scheduling problem was anticipated to regularly recur in the future.
Next year’s revisions were touted as a “one-time” correction that would bypass a provision prohibiting finals from being held on Saturday or Sunday.
Senate Executive Committee Chairman Matt Wheeler, a professor of animal sciences, said the implications of the revision were less onerous than not acting at all.
“This is critical,” he said. “If we miss this (disbursement) deadline, students are going to be much more impacted.”
“It divided the burden as equally as possible,” said Sen. Bettina Francis, a member of the Educational Policy Committee and a professor of entomology. “This particular option is one … that requires sacrifice from students, faculty and staff.”
Sen. Abbas Aminmansour, a professor of architecture, said the current academic calendar was approved years in advance and that the process included input from all sectors of campus.
“We looked at pretty much any idea you might come up with,” he said of the Senate’s calendaring process. “There was a lot of discussion that went into this issue.”
He said he was confident the revisions would correct the problem with the least hardship.
“This may or not be the solution in the future,” he said.
Miller said the issue would continue to be evaluated for alternate solutions.
Several student senators voiced concern over the previously approved changes in the calendar as well as the adoption of Saturday finals. They argued next year’s new timeline adversely affects study time, travel and work plans set for the winter break, and even students who worship on Saturdays.
Francis said students experiencing test-scheduling difficulty could employ the university’s “conflict exam” process to identify alternate exam times. Senate bylaws also restrict the number of tests students can take in a 24-hour period.
Student senators also asked that the student body be better informed of any future calendaring changes.
Important dates for the 2012-13 academic year*
- Aug. 27 Classes begin
- Nov. 17 Thanksgiving break begins
- Nov. 26 Instruction resumes
- Dec. 14 Final exams begin
- Dec. 15 Saturday exams
- Dec. 20 Exams end
- Dec. 26 Grade-submission deadline
- Jan. 4 Academic Standing Review completed
- Jan. 5 Financial aid disbursement deadline
- Jan. 14 Spring semester starts
*Bold items were revised
