Recently, professor David Lenson wrote a brief letter indicating that while he understood the reason for extending the add/drop period an extra day this semester, he believed that the period was too long. In particular, he argued, students who joined during the end of the period may have missed crucial foundational information. Lenson asked that the Faculty Senate look into the matter.
The add/drop period was structured to last for two weeks, except for classes scheduled for once-a-week late Tuesday afternoon or evening, which were only scheduled to meet once. Although professor Lenson understood why the period was extended one day this year, I will start by explaining the reason for those who wondered why. Since afternoon and evening classes were canceled during the first Tuesday of the semester due to the terrorist attack, those (mostly graduate) classes that only meet late Tuesday afternoons or evenings would not have met until it was too late to add or drop them. The postponement allowed those Tuesday classes time to meet once.
To return to Lenson's main concern, the current policy could allow anyone who had a M-W-F class that finished before 4 p.m. to add a class after having missed the first six sessions. For most classes, this would place the student in a difficult situation. If the instructor took class time to fill in the gaps, this would necessitate repeating material already presented to students who had attended since the first class. I agree that the policy can lead to placing faculty and students in this situation.
The length of the add/drop period has been discussed periodically by the Academic Matters Council. We did so again in response to Lenson's letter. The bottom line is that the council will not be recommending a change. The most important reasons for allowing students to seek admission to some courses already in progress are that seniors may not have been able to pre-register successfully for their chosen vehicle for fulfilling graduation requirements, some of the alternative courses may have been closed, some courses only meet once a week, and sometimes students cannot attend classes at the beginning of the semester due to family emergencies or medical or financial problems (the latter leading to their ability to register being temporarily blocked). The solution for faculty who feel that it is a mistake to allow students to enroll after the first or second class is to take their courses off line after the first class meets.
Two points about the proposed solution: First, taking courses off line means that no one can add over the computer. (Even a course that is on-
line that is full can have someone add if someone else drops, thereby creating a vacancy.) However, instructors can sign a manual override form that adds a student whose circumstances they consider compelling. Second, it is a misconception that general education courses may not be taken off line. The policy is that they may not be taken off line until after Registration Day has ended; however, they may be taken off line immediately thereafter.
In conclusion, the current Academic Matters Council membership believes that the present policy allows faculty to accommodate students with compelling circumstances while providing mechanisms for faculty who want to truncate the add portion of the period for their classes to avoid the very real problem professor Lenson described.
JEFFREY W. EISEMAN
chair,
Academic Matters Council
