Academic calendar changes

Students’ requests for Martin Luther King Jr. Day to be recognized by the university caused changes to the academic calendar for this year and years to come.
The St. Bonaventure faculty senate approved a new calendar for the next three academic years.
The new calendar provides for classes to resume the Tuesday after MLK Day, while maintaining a reading day in the spring semester, which was eliminated from this year’s calendar.
Haylei John, president of the Student Government Association, serves as a student voice at faculty senate meetings.
John said the members of faculty senate worried about eliminating reading day in future spring semesters.
To maintain a reading day and observe MLK Day, the Academic Standards Committee proposed an amendment to that calendar that would push finals later into the week, said John.
SGA voted on three possible changes to the academic calendar and suggested the faculty senate keep the calendar as it was prior to any amendments, said John. That calendar would prevent finals from extending later into the week and would leave the spring semester without a reading day.
“Many SGA members voted this way due to concerns with senior week,” said John. “My votes in the faculty senate always reflect the recommendations made by the SGA votes.”
The academic calendar issue started last year. Students were rightfully adamant about having both MLK Day and the day after Easter off to properly observe these holidays, said John.
John said she has received both positive and negative reactions to the change.
“Those that are worried about Senior Week can be reassured that their senior class representatives hold control over when these activities begin, so even an extension of finals can be worked around,” John said.
The approval of the new calendar will cause two changes to established university practices.
Due to the extension of finals week, diplomas will be mailed rather than handed out on graduation day, and Latin honors, such as cum laude, will be calculated through senior year fall semester rather than spring semester.
Jason Caldwell, a junior management major, will be affected by the calendar changes in his senior year.
“The concept of academic honors being calculated with less than the entirety of the courses you’ve taken in college seems unfounded at first glance—however, from a mathematical perspective, the spring semester of your senior year will have very little, if any, impact on your GPA,” Caldwell said. “It is highly unlikely that a student would vastly alter his or her GPA during their final semester. I feel that knowing this won’t change student’s efforts in the classroom. At that point—if anything—it gives students the confidence to miss classes occasionally to attend job interviews preparing them for life post-graduation.”
“These implications were discussed at the SGA meeting, and very little concern was expressed about the mailing of diplomas,” said John. “This a common practice by many universities, and I feel that students were more concerned with the dates of finals and graduation.”