Scheduling policy receives mixed reaction

By Jimmy Chai, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, October 15, 1998

Teachers and students voiced mixed reactions over Cal State Long Beach's Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning class-scheduling policy.

The policy, which was recommended by the Academic Senate in February 1997 and approved by CSULB President Robert Maxson in May 1997, was devised to accommodate an influx of students and requires individual departments to utilize vacant rooms on Fridays.

Some professors, who voiced their concerns to department heads, are reluctant to change their Monday through Thursday routine because of other commitments.

It forces them to revamp their whole schedule, said Samuel Councilman, chairman of the mathematics department.

There are added disadvantages in the classroom, said Hamdi Bilici, a professor of finance.

Bilici said 50-minute class periods are too short for professors to get the classes up and running.

Also, classes will have to start and stop three times a week instead of twice.

Councilman, however, said the shorter class periods allow students to receive more exposure and less material at one time.

After the first hour, students, especially younger ones, begin to drift.

A shorter class period will allow the younger students to slowly lengthen their attention span, Councilman said.

But both agree that two-day-a-week classes fill up faster than others. The departments, which handle their own class scheduling, are required by policy to increase utilization of the rooms in two ways, said Keith Polakoff, associate vice president for academic affairs.

Departments may make their current two-day-a-week morning classes, which run from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. according to the school policy, into three-day-a-week classes or add a separate three-hour Friday class to counter the existing Monday, Wednesday classes.

In the past, CSULB did not have a compelling reason to enforce Friday classes, so the university let the idea go, Polakoff said.

"Today, CSULB is heavily enrolled. CSULB needs to reinforce the policy," he said.

Students have also expressed concern over the new policy.

"Officials need to stop and think about students who work," said Kellie Anguiano, a criminal justice major who works four days a week, including Fridays. "If you have a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class, it [messes] up your work schedule.

"Plus, this school is a majority of commuting students," Anguiano said. "I don't want to drive down here three times a week."

Steve Connally, a political science major who currently is enrolled in a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class, said he would rather have Friday off. The extra day will help him relax and start the weekend early.

The new policy is designed to accommodate more students with the existing facilities, Polakoff said.

But there are exceptions for departments. Specialized classrooms that could not be used for general purposes do not have to utilized, Polakoff said.

By fall of 1999, every department will be in compliance with the scheduling policy, Polakoff said.