‘Dead Week’ resolution closes loopholes
The Utah State University Academic Senate passed a first reading of a resolution Monday calling for increased regulation of the no-test policy during “Dead Week,” the week before finals week. The resolution, SR-1501, passed unanimously and will be voted on again next week.
The resolution, sponsored by Nicokles Clason, senator for the College of Humanities ad Social Sciences, and Samuel Wright, senator of the Caine College of the Arts, would reinforce the current No-Test Week policy to not allow professors to assign anything that would be due during the last week of classes that accounts for more than 15 percent of a student’s final grade, unless the professor does not give a final exam during finals week.
No-Test Week was created in 2008 when members of the Academic Senate and Executive Council voted to not allow any tests to be given the week before Finals Week. Clason reasons that since then, No-Test Week has become a time for finishing final class projects, which usually make up a significant portion of a student’s grade, rather than preparing for final exams.
Clason said this resolution, which must be approved by a board made up of college deans, President Stan Albrecht and the provosts, may not be received well by faculty but argues that “professors will not be short-changed.”
“They will have the opportunity to continue lecture, foster continued learning that will be tested on the final, assign tasks that are worth less than 15 percent of the final grade or have review sessions for the upcoming final examination, project and/or paper,” the ASR 15-01 Policy Paper states.
The Academic Senate will vote on the second reading of this policy on Monday at 5 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center Council Chambers. Clason said he encourages students to attend and voice their opinions during the public forum.
“It is a big resolution and if students have an opinion I would love to have them come in and voice their opinions,” he said.
— manda.perkins@hotmail.com
Twitter: @perkins_manda