Word: beginnings
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...started on September 5 instead of Sept. 18, had only 13 weeks of classes instead of 14 (Princeton only has 12) and had 11 days of reading period before the winter vacation, then exam period could remain nine days and be held before winter break. Spring term would begin in mid-January and end well before Memorial Day. As times change, so should policies...
...begin with, the spring exam period typically ends on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, which "causes all sorts of problems," according to Herschbach. Additionally, an average of 20 students a semester submit requests to reschedule their Saturday exams due to religious conflicts. An added benefit of shorter exam periods would be one more day of precious intersession...
...detrimental even to those students who don't wind up with doubles or triples. So, we would like to recommend a solution which surprisingly was not even discussed at the CUE meeting. Shave an extra day off reading period. Everyone knows that reading period is a cosmic farce to begin with. A bloated 11 days long, reading period is simply a thinly disguised extension of the semester during which professors feel free to hold classes, assign papers and problem sets and generally make our lives difficult...
...prevent doubles and triples, and the Memorial Day/religious conflict problems would be solved. Plus, we'd have that luscious extra day of intersession. And finally, we would have taken a symbolic step towards admitting that reading period is far too long--and far too subject to professors' wills--to begin with...
...advantages of switching are numerous. To begin with, we'd have a reasonably-sized winter break, long enough to relax or even acquire gainful employment. And we wouldn't have to return to face the whistling axe of final exams. Reading periods would be shorter, but since these are nothing more than ill-disguised extensions of the semester, good riddance. And our spring break might actually have a chance of coinciding with those of our friends at other colleges...