by Jennifer Onuska
ASUNM President
and Amy Cook
and Kevin Stevenson
ASUNM Senators
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No tests, no new material and no assignments the week before finals. Wouldn't that be nice? Well, that's how it would be with ASUNM's proposed Prep Week.
At the end of last semester, our Daily Lobo editor, Angela Williams, brought light to a subject that has been lurking in the back of students' minds. For the past several years, UNM students have complained about the lack of a "Dead Week" (a study week prior to finals).
Students feel overwhelmed learning new material, taking tests, and turning in large assignments the 15th week of the semester. Students need this week to prepare for upcoming final exams.
Presently, students are forced to deal with a large workload during the 15th week (our proposed Prep Week), while they are also expected to prepare for finals.
This semester a committee of undergraduate students, organized by ASUNM, has come together to fashion a proposal for the successful implementation of a "Prep Week" for the benefit of the UNM undergraduate community. After extensive research into other campuses' dead week policies, we approached associate provost for academic affairs, Nancy Usher, about implementing one at UNM. With her guidance, we realized a thoughtful approach to this problem was needed to maintain a rigorous academic program without interfering with individual professors' teaching programs.
Our proposal is as follows:
l The 15th week of the semester will be known as "Prep Week."
l During Prep Week, no new material is to be introduced, no tests are to be given and no assignments are to be due.
l Prep Week will be designated as a time to review. Regular classes will still occur, however, this time will be used for faculty lead review sessions.
We feel that the Prep Week will encourage student academic success.
We would like to implement a three-year pilot program beginning in Fall 2003.
We realize that we cannot require faculty to follow the proposal, however we strongly encourage deans to make it part of our UNM culture. We would like to cooperate with the faculty to measure student success rates during this three-year pilot program to see if Prep Week works, for the benefit of students and faculty.
We presented this proposal to the associate deans during Spring Break and will be going to the Dean's Council on April 10.
We will be polling UNM undergraduates regarding the Prep Week proposal on April 16 during the ASUNM election. The Prep Week Proposal will appear on the ASUNM ballot.
Student support is the first step to making our Prep Week proposal a reality. We need you to voice your opinion in support of Prep Week.
