The LSU Faculty Senate passed a resolution Thursday to move up all class times by 10 minutes.
The resolution will not affect the length of classes, which will also finish 10 minutes earlier than they currently do.
The Senate approved the resolution in a split vote. The legislation was sponsored by Fereydoun Aghazadeh, former Senator and industrial engineering professor.
Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said he has already conferred with the registrar, who expressed his support for the change. The resolution now needs final approval from Academic Affairs, but Cope said that department routinely signs off on Faculty Senate legislation.
Cope said he couldn’t be certain when the time change will occur, but estimated it will be implemented starting with the spring or fall semester of 2012.
The reasoning behind the resolution was to create uniformity between the start times for classes and for meetings and other scheduled appointments, Aghazadeh said.
“For example, I was 10 minutes late to this meeting [that started at 3 p.m.], as I have a class from 1:30 to 3 p.m.,” Aghazadeh said.
Aghazadeh said he investigated the reason for the University’s current class start times and could not find an answer.
“This will cut through the confusion and provide the University a system that is uniform with most others,” Aghazadeh said.
The resolution was passed in spite of a resolution passed by Student Government on Oct. 19 advising the Faculty Senate to maintain the current class time schedule.
In other business, the senate voted down a resolution which proposed making Thanksgiving break a week long by starting the semester two days early. The resolution, sponsored by Joshua Detre, assistant professor of finance and agribusiness management, did not pass after a rousing discussion.
The Senate also heard a report from the Tobacco Free Campus Committee about making the University’s campus tobacco-free. The committee conducted an environmental scan and found the campus to be predominantly supportive of making the University’s campus smoke-free.
“We need to promote respect for non-smokers,” said Stephanie Braunstein, committee member and University librarian.
The committee recommended assembling a task force to determine policies, penalties and enforcement tactics for advancing the University toward a smoke-free future.
 
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Contact Josh Naquin at [email protected].