UA-proposed finals schedule meets roadblocks

Although the Undergraduate Assembly unanimously passed a proposal to modify Penn's final exam period, the changes cannot go into effect unless approved by Penn officials.

And despite the UA's confidence and speed in passing the proposal, faculty and administrators are not committed to quickly approving it.

"We are very open to a discussion about this, but we also want the UA to recognize that the way we have to do these things is with proper consultation with the schools -- which is really where decision-making takes place," College of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell said.

Specifically, the UA's plan calls for increasing the time between exams from 30 minutes to an hour and pushing back the start of exams from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Exams would then end at 8 p.m. rather than 6 p.m.

The proposal would also allow students who have more than two exams in 24 hours or more than three exams in 48 hours to reschedule, which differs from the current policy allowing a student to reschedule if they have more than two exams in one calendar day.

Bushnell noted that the proposal took her completely by surprise.

"This came totally out of left field -- it had not been on our radar screen at all," she said, adding that in an optimal situation, she would participate in the creation of a student proposal.

"I usually have a heads up, and I usually have a chance to have some input into their process," Bushnell said, adding that she thinks "that's when those kind of relationships work best."

Although UA Chairman Jason Levy said that "ideally [the UA is] hoping to have [the proposal] implemented by the end of the semester," Bushnell did not see this as feasible.

"I can't imagine that it would" be implemented this semester, she said. "I think the exam schedules for this semester are already set."

"I did read with alarm ... that Jason Levy said he wasn't going to sleep [until the proposal was implemented], and I felt like saying, 'Well, Jason, you're not going to do very well on your exams, then.'"

Bushnell and her fellow undergraduate deans plan to confer with their respective faculties to gauge reactions to the UA's plan.

"We have to make sure we have a final exam architecture that really serves all the constituencies best," Bushnell said.

She added that the most complicated aspect of implementing the UA's proposal would involve the number of rescheduled exams, citing science departments as a specific concern.

"It's both just a scheduling nightmare but also [may produce] a whole second exam system, and I'm not sure that that's something that the students or the faculty would want," Bushnell said.

Bushnell stressed that she appreciates student opinions on academic matters.

"I think it's really wonderful to have an organized, dedicated body of students to work with who give input on academic issues," she said, referring to the UA, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Dean's Advisory Board.

Deputy Provost Peter Conn seemed to agree with Bushnell's views, stating in an e-mail interview that he would like to "thank the students who generated the proposal for taking this initiative."

Confident that the proposal will be adopted, Levy maintains that most requests are modest.

"We're not asking for radical changes," he said. "We're really just tying up some of the loopholes that hurt students."

Levy said that the UA hopes to gain the support of the Faculty Senate before going to University Provost Robert Barchi.

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