Editor,
Next fall, the lives of every UNM student and employee will be affected by a bureaucratic error made in the office of the University Registrar. The entire fall semester will begin and end a week before it should.
The semester should begin on Aug. 26 and end on Dec. 21. However, the current UNM catalogue announces that classes will begin on Aug. 19 and end on Dec. 14.
Thus, the entire semester is moved forward. The change cuts a week from the summer break and leaves only one week between the Thanksgiving holiday and final examinations.
This snafu shortens people's summer vacations and field research. It could also affect the pocketbook of anyone who works during the summer. Students will have one week less in which to earn the money that pays their educational expenses. Faculty with grant funding will have one week less in which they can be compensated for their summer research.
UNM administrators argue that the inconvenience and expense of rectifying the error would be greater than the inconvenience and expense of living with it. But this is not a persuasive assertion.
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A campaign of public announcements and mailings could easily reach incoming students and employees who may now be making their plans on the basis of the faulty calendar. New arrivals are likely to welcome a one-week postponement of their deadlines; they will deplore it only if the University does not inform them of the change in a timely fashion.
The Faculty Senate has passed a resolution calling for a fall schedule that begins on Aug. 26. The UNM Chapter of the American Association of University Professors supports this call.
From an AAUP point of view, the calendar blunder is not an aberration. Rather, it represents a trend toward unilateral infringement by university administrators upon faculty prerogatives.
The prerogative at stake in this instance is the faculty's right to set the University's academic calendar. Who is better qualified than the faculty to determine the optimal rhythms of college learning? The fall semester scheduling pattern altered by the recent administrative changes was established by the faculty at least 15 years ago.
Because AAUP/UNM views the calendar change as a governance issue, we have initiated a petition that calls for starting the fall term on Monday, Aug. 26. The petition may be signed by any UNM student or employee. Copies will be available in the food tent across from Zimmerman Library from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. this week and the week after Spring Break.
Copies may also be obtained by calling 277-2415 or e-mailing Hugh Witemeyer at hughwit@unm.edu. If you agree with AAUP/UNM on this issue, please make your views known by signing our petition soon.
Hugh Witemeyer
President of the UNM Chapter of the American Association of University Professors
