The faculty on Thursday voted to
ask the Academic Affairs Council to consider a change in the semester proposal
to add a four-day reading period and to revisit the issue of semester length.
The faculty is to meet on
Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 12:30 p.m. (location to be determined) to
discuss the final proposal. A vote is to take place by mail ballot after that
meeting with results announced around Nov. 19, said Clifford Brown, chair of
the Faculty Executive Committee.
The motion, presented by Prof.
William Zwicker, reads as follows:
“The faculty
recommends to the AAC that the calendar proposal on the floor be modified to
restore a reading period of 4 days (including any weekend days), and that the
AAC revisit the matter of semester length. We believe that a reading period
provides an opportunity for students to consolidate and integrate their
learning. This is a significant pedagogical advantage – one that is all
the more important in a semester, with its greater length and greater number of
classes. We note that the sixty minute classes originally proposed by the
AAC bring the instructional time in any semester of at least thirteen weeks to
well above the total provided by a fourteen or even fifteen week semester at an
institution with the more typical fifty minute classes. The faculty further
calls upon the AAC to report back with its response no later than the end of
the day on Tuesday, November 11.”
Thursday's faculty meeting opened
with a reading of an open letter from Student Forum by representatives Adam
Weiss and Josh Fiorini, both seniors, which argued in favor of preserving the
trimester system.
Information on the issue can be found
at a new web site: http://www.union.edu/calendardiscussion.