MSU will not implement more Friday classes in '10

Plans to add more Friday classes to students’ schedules next fall are on hold.

Wilcox

Provost Kim Wilcox announced Tuesday at an Executive Committee of Academic Council meeting that a scheduling change for classes held on Mondays and Wednesdays would not be implemented next year.

Officials previously said the move to shorten class times and add an extra meeting day on Friday would begin next fall. Wilcox said the move was meant to reduce scheduling conflicts for students.

“I have not changed my mind,” he said. “I just agreed we will spend more time discussing the current policy.”

University officials adopted the Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule as the university’s standard scheduling procedure more than a decade ago, but Wilcox said exceptions to the procedure led to a large number of classes meeting only on Mondays and Wednesdays.

“Things will look like last year,” Wilcox said at the meeting. “I think that’s a regret. I think it’s unfortunate for the campus, personally. But that’s how it will be.”

On Monday, Wilcox notified the Office of the Registrar to abandon plans to schedule classes previously held on Mondays and Wednesdays to include a third session on Friday.

ECAC Chairman Harold Hughes said Senior Associate Provost June Youatt apologized to faculty members at a Sept. 29 ECAC meeting for how the university notified people about the schedule changes. The special ECAC meeting was held in response to faculty concerns about not being included in the decision to increase Friday classes and how it could affect faulty research, Hughes said.

“Dr. Youatt sat here and apologized for the way it was handled, which was not appropriate in her opinion and in my opinion and in most people’s opinion,” Hughes said. “This year, the registrar will accept things the way it has been the last few years. After that, we will have the appropriate conversations and a decision will be made.”

Wilcox said although he will listen to community concerns about the schedule, a longer wait to implement the change could impact more student schedules.

“This is all about facilitating student access to classes,” Wilcox said. “The more we vary from this standard schedule, the more conflicts we have. That’s the reality.”

Richard Weber, an associate professor of accounting and information systems, said he hopes a decision will be made after each side is able to voice its concerns.

“There’s the other issue, some of which the provost raised, and there are the other issues that the faculty have raised that didn’t appear to have been considered by the provost,” Weber said. “We’ll get those all considered over the next year and hopefully get a rational decision made out of it.”

ECAC will consider how to include students and faculty in the schedule discussion at its next meeting scheduled for Nov. 3.