Fixing finals week — Proposed regulation may eliminate instructor requirement to meet during finals week

University of Idaho instructors may not have to meet with their classes during final exam week, according to proposed regulation by the UI Faculty Senate.The faculty senate charged the University Curriculum Committee with reviewing Regulation H-1-B of the general catalog, which currently outlines the requirement that instructors meet with their classes during finals week.
UCC Chair Bahman Shafii said committee members were given time to discuss the item and share it with colleagues in their respective colleges. He said the group didn’t believe Regulation H-1-B was necessary, and the decision to remove it passed unanimously through the committee.
It came as a seconded motion to the faculty senate, and senators were given the chance to discuss it in their Jan. 22 meeting.
Shafii said while observing discussion, he noticed the regulation was either not enforced, or it was difficult to enforce.
“There are a lot of examples where people basically give their exams prior to finals week, or some instructors decide there is a paper or group project due instead,” he said. “Since it’s unenforceable and is not observed by the faculty, we felt it was unnecessary.”
UCC looked into the Idaho State Board of Education’s contact hour requirements for classes and found that even without meeting during finals week, UI would satisfy the requirements, Shafii said.
Shafii said there are still several issues surrounding Regulation H, which governs final exam regulations as a whole. Regulation H-1-A states no quizzes or exams may be given in the recitation period before finals week, but Shafii said several senators gave him examples of instructors who break that regulation.
“… This whole Regulation H needs to be reconsidered at some point in time,” he said. “We just chose one aspect of it because it came up in the senate. But if there’s a portion of it they want us to tackle, they have to charge us with it because we are the University of Idaho’s senators’ committee.”
Shafii said UCC might revisit the structure of final exam week, as well as the conflict period for students who have multiple tests at the same time.
The motion carried through the faculty senate 19-2.
The proposal will be voted on at the faculty meeting April 30. If there is a quorum, or the minimum number of people required to conduct business, faculty will have the chance to vote it up or down. If not, UI President M. Duane Nellis will approve or disapprove it.
Britt Kiser can be reached at [email protected]

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Britt Kiser News editor Junior in Public Relations Can be reached at [email protected] or 208-885-7715

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