by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Brittany Jaeger, ASUNM president, wants students' opinions about the week before finals.
"I'm kind of looking right now at what's going to work best for students," she said.
Jaeger wants the Thursday and Friday before finals week to be review days, when instructors would not teach new material or give tests or assignments.
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The proposal is part of ASUNM's ongoing attempt to make the end of the semester easier on students, she said.
In 2003, ASUNM and Faculty Senate agreed to make the week before finals a review week. However, that policy has had limited success, she said.
The UNM Board of Regents approved the proposal, but not everyone followed it.
"I think it was because ASUNM didn't do a good enough job getting all the faculty on board," she said. "But I also don't know if it's feasible to have an entire week devoted to no new material."
Student Anthony Chen said he was not aware of a review week at UNM, because none of his professors have mentioned it. He said several of his professors have had tests or papers due during the week before finals.
"It gets really hectic," he said. "All of a sudden you have to use your time more efficiently than you did the whole rest of the semester."
Jaeger said another option is to cancel classes on the Friday before finals week, and not have any finals on Saturday, which would give students a three-day weekend to study.
The change could help retention rates, she said.
"When I recall back to my freshman year, I had a Saturday final at 7:30 in the morning," she said. "These freshmen have never taken a final at the university level before, and now they have to take one early Saturday morning - that could definitely affect retention."
ASUNM conducted an informal survey two weeks ago asking students what their experiences were during the week before finals, she said.
"Some students thought professors were just cramming information in, and others thought it was a waste of time," she said.
Christopher Smith, president of Faculty Senate, said having a couple days for students to study is a good idea.
"The way it is now, we're giving them the least possible time to study," he said. "It's potentially the worst possible way to do it."
Jaeger said students should e-mail her or go into the ASUNM office to share their opinions about how the week should be handled.
Student Greg Blalock said he would prefer to have a couple days off instead of using them for in-class review.
"Students should be able to review and keep up on what they're studying on their own," he said. "As a student showing up to a review, it's always kind of a waste of time for me. I kind of resent it. I'd rather the professor just tell us not to come to class."
Chen also said he would prefer time off to in-class reviews.
"I'm sure a lot of people would take advantage of that time and use it to study for finals," he said. "I know it would help me out."
Blalock said the week before finals has never been a problem for him.
"No more than any other week," he said. "College is always busy."
Professor Richard Wood said the week before finals is only part of the problem.
"My bigger concern is the length of the semester," he said. "By finals week, a lot of students just seem to have burned out."
At a Feb. 14 regents meeting, Jamie Koch, regents president, asked Jaeger for a final proposal by March, in time for the Budget Summit.
However, she said that may not give her enough time to address all the issues involved.
"I don't think it's feasible to get a proposal for this done in the next few weeks," she said. "There are probably problems we haven't even thought of."
