by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
More than three years after ASUNM started pushing for a review week before finals, a solution may be on the horizon, said Brittany Jaeger, ASUNM president.
Jaeger said she wants to move all finals given on Saturday to another day during finals week, in order to give students the weekend to study.
"Students have been waiting a long time for some kind of review period, and this is at least a temporary solution," she said.
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Christopher Smith, president of Faculty Senate, said he suggested the idea of abolishing Saturday finals to Jaeger. It is a better idea than having an entire week for review, he said.
He said many students would probably treat a review week as a second Spring Break.
"It would kind of just be a time to pile in the car and go skiing in Colorado," he said. "I think the form that it's taking now is a much better form."
Jaeger presented the idea to the Board of Regents on April 11.
The regents offered their support by encouraging Jaeger to be aggressive in getting review days implemented.
Jamie Koch, president of the regents, said the idea is not something the board hasn't heard before.
"It's real important we listen to you this time," Koch said.
In 2003, ASUNM and Faculty Senate agreed to have a review week before finals, during which no assignments would be due and no new material would be introduced. However, there were problems implementing the week, Jaeger said.
"That just didn't seem like it was ever going to work, because there would be no way to monitor what's going on in every single class," she said. "Plus it wouldn't work for every kind of class."
For example, music and theater classes need to be able to hold their final performances during the week before finals, she said.
Getting rid of Saturday finals will help out new students, she said.
"Having a freshman get up at 7:30 in the morning to take their first math final - that's expecting a lot of them," Jaeger said. "We're always talking about retention, and I really don't think we're giving students enough time to study."
Smith agreed.
"I think it's an issue of concern to have freshmen taking a course on Friday, and then taking the final in that course on Saturday," he said. "That seems to me to not give them much of an opportunity for success."
Student Tracie Scott said she does not want any change.
"Most of my finals are usually finished by Wednesday, and I would hate to have one on Friday," she said.
She said it is worth it to have finals on Saturday morning.
"It sucks, but I think it's a small price to pay to get out of here early," she said.
Student Stephen Martinez said he would like to see the change happen.
"I think it's a totally great idea," he said. "We're in college. Nobody wants to get up on Saturday morning to take a test."
Saturday finals are given to lower-level classes with many students, such as freshman math and freshman chemistry. Some of the chemistry and math finals will be given at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday this semester.
Ricardo Moreira, a teaching assistant for Portuguese who also has finals on Saturday, said no change is necessary.
"The last week of class, they don't really have too much work anyway," he said. "It should be simple enough for them to work out any problems they have."
Jaeger said it should be simple to move Saturday finals to Friday. There is only one scheduled time slot on Friday for final exams this semester, which could easily be moved to another day in the week.
In February, Jaeger proposed having no classes on Thursday and Friday before finals. However, that plan was problematic because it cut the number of class hours for Thursday and Friday classes below the amount required by the New Mexico Higher Education Department, she said.
Faculty Senate, which organizes the academic calendar, will vote on Jaeger's proposal April 25, Smith said. He said he hopes to see the change implemented for the fall semester.
