Associated Students of Madison lobbied the UW Faculty Senate University Committee for a permanent exam study day at its meeting Monday afternoon in Bascom Hall.
ASM's proposal would guarantee students a full study day between the end of classes and the start of final exams. Currently, some semesters of the academic schedule have a final-exam block scheduled on what the university calls the ""study day.""
""It's completely unfair that we don't have a full study day,"" said Dylan Rath, chair of ASM, co-chair of the ASM Study Break Committee and UW-Madison senior. ""All the other Big Ten schools have at least one study day, so we don't think it's an extreme request to ask for one full day.""
Rath said a full study day would allow students time to meet with study groups, sleep and enjoy stress-busters like dorm movie nights.
State and system requirements limit the implementation of a full study day. The requirements state the academic year must be at least 170 days long, cannot start before Sept. 1 and must avoid going beyond Dec. 23.
While some students may be concerned the study day would move the academic schedule back, Rath said this would not be a problem with ASM's current proposal.
ASM suggests moving any exam block on a study day to commencement day, according to Gideon Martin, ASM Study Break Committee member UW-Madison sophomore. He said there are already final exam blocks scheduled on commencement day.
The moved exam blocks would be geared toward freshman-level classes and would not take place during commencement ceremonies, Martin said.
Jane Hutchison, UW-Madison art history professor and University Committee member, said she was surprised UW-Madison did not already have at least a full study day.
""I already thought one study day was pretty chancy,"" Hutchison said.
Students have been supportive of the study day proposal, according to Hannah Karns, ASM Study Break Committee member and UW-Madison freshman. Karns said ASM has collected hundreds of signed petitions from students.
David Musolf, secretary of the Faculty, said it may be difficult to sequester freshman-level courses to reduce the chances of seniors having to take final exams on their commencement day.
If the University Committee passes the ASM proposal, the next Faculty Senate meeting that could address it is May 5. Fall 2009 is the first semester when this would create a full study day where none exists in the current schedule.
