Deans discuss lengthening spring semester

Administrators said last night they are still discussing ways to compensate for last Friday's University's closing, adding that they have not yet decided to extend the semester. The University closed Friday for the third time this semester after the latest in a series of winter storms made road conditions treacherous. Interim President Claire Fagin said last night the decision whether to extend the semester to compensate for cancelled classes is an option being discussed among University officials. She added that she would not comment on the issue until she sees "what kinds of studies have been done" about the amount of class time students have missed because of the University closings. Engineering Associate Dean John Keenan said the semester "wouldn't be lengthened unless there was a great demand to do so." He added that his school intended to "provide make-up opportunities during reading days." Wharton Undergraduate Vice Dean Janice Bellace said she expects to discuss whether the semester should be lengthened with other undergraduate school officials this week. But Executive Assistant to the Provost Linda Koons said the issue was not on her copy of the agenda for tomorrow's meeting of the Council of Undergraduate Deans. Bellace did say, however, that she was not in favor of extending the semester. "It is just extremely difficult to mandate," she said. "It would be impossible to reschedule graduation." Mary Naylor, director of undergraduate studies for the Nursing School, said she thought there was a "possibility of holding classes during reading days." The drop period and pass/fail option, which were originally scheduled to end Friday, were other issues facing administrators after Friday's shut down. Registrar Ronald Sanders said last night that the drop period was extended until midnight yesterday. And College students wanting to use the Pass/Fail option, which also expired Friday, were able to change their grade type in the College office yesterday, Dean Matthew Santirocco said. Sanders said registration deadlines were extended "in the event that there were students who needed to attend one more class or see a professor." But, he said he was concerned that the extension of the drop period was not "well-publicized" and thus not widely used. School of Arts and Sciences Assistant Dean Eric Schneider said students should have "exercised common sense" and guessed that the registration options would have been extended an extra day. Although Sanders said registration deadlines were pushed back to midnight yesterday, some students said they had difficulty dropping classes.