By Justin Muszynski
In an effort to make up for the three Mondays that were missed this semester, CCSU has decided to run the Monday schedule on what was originally intended to be a Friday reading day for students to prepare for exams.
Dr. Carl Lovitt, the Provost and President for Academic Affairs, says it’s important to remember that the University is not actually requiring professors to have their Monday classes on the Friday before exams but encourages those who can to take advantage of this opportunity.
“What we were trying to do is provide an opportunity for faculty and students who could use this additional time,” said Lovitt. “The concern was that we lost three Mondays as a result of Labor Day, the hurricane and the freak outage so some faculty were very concerned that they were losing class time.”
According to the University’s website, the faculty senate, AAUP leadership, deans and department chairs were all consulted on this decision and overall the consensus was that this was the best option. Dr. Jason Jones, president of the CCSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, says this may very well be the best option that the university had.
“I believe giving faculty the option was a good idea, since the Monday schedule took a beating this semester,” said Jones, who is also an associate professor of English.
Jones also said that classes like math and science, that are dependent on every class meeting, may very well need to take advantage of this possible extra day.
Laura Tordenti, the Vice President of Student Affairs, says that despite some students’ work schedules not allowing them to come to class on Friday, it was still a good decision by the school and that those students who will miss their class should notify their professor as to why they cannot be there.
“I think they just need to negotiate with their professor and let them know they already had plans,” said Tordenti. “I would hope that professors here, and I think they are, would be reasonable and accommodating. I have every confidence that our faculty are going to be flexible.”
“I think it was a good decision that Dr. Lovitt made, it was an extraordinary situation and the students and faculty that have class on Monday really have lost a lot of time.”
According to Lovitt, the University considered other options to make up for the missed classes this semester. One of which would have involved pushing back finals for a week to allow an additional week of normal classes.
“We looked at the possibility of extending the end of the semester because a number of faculty members recommended that,” said Lovitt. “It turns out from a contractual stand point we’re not even allowed to do that. We’re allowed to schedule so many days and we scheduled that many days so we can’t schedule more, so that was the only systemic solution.”
Jones says that overall the reaction he’s gotten from faculty has been positive. He doesn’t see how a professor can be upset by this considering they ultimately have the final say when it comes to their classes.
“Because it’s optional, most faculty have been okay with this,” said Jones. “It would be hard to extend the semester and there’s no practical way to schedule weekend classes. And this gives those who need it some flexibility while keeping the schedule as regular as possible.”
This story was contributed to by Jonathan Stankiewicz.