This semester students with three or more final examinations scheduled within a 24-hour period will be able to reschedule one of them.
This is a change from the regulation according to the Final Examination Guide, which makes students with three or more exams scheduled during a single calendar day eligible for deferment.
The Educational Policy Committee undertook this resolution and presented it Tuesday to the Faculty Senate.
Michael Cherry, physics and astronomy professor, introduced the resolution.
Cherry said forcing students to take three exams during one calendar day measures only how well a student performs under much stress and with little sleep.
Although the Senate will not vote on the Resolution until May, Provost Risa Palm, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, agreed to allow students to reschedule exams this semester.
Senate President Bill Daly, chemistry professor, said he believes this resolution is a fair balance for both faculty and students.
In a March 23 Letter to the Editor in The Daily Reveille, six members of Community Over Self, a student-led effort to affect change in the University and Baton Rouge community, called for the new policy.
Michelle Anderson, one of the letter’s authors, said that when members started the organization, they had a round table discussion about issues students were unhappy about, and the issue of exams was the first one they decided to tackle.
Anderson said to raise student awareness of the issue and get them involved, COS decided to write a letter to The Daily Reveille.
In the Faculty Senate resolution, the final date to arrange rescheduling will be the same day as the final day to drop a course with a “W.” Because this date has already passed, Karen Denby, assistant vice chancellor of academic affairs, advises students to reschedule their exams immediately.
Students should make requests for special arrangements to the dean of the college in which they are registered, and requests will only be considered when the three or more exams cover more than seven hours of coursework.
The dean will also determine which exams have to be taken at the originally allotted time.
 
Contact Samantha Walker at [email protected]