Students respond to shortened summer

By Carrie Porche Jones, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, August 27, 1998

The results of a questionnaire given to students show that students were affected by the early start of the fall semester, said Tom Rhodes, a professor in the College of Business Administration.

Ninety-one of the 152 students questioned indicated they were affected by the early start, while sixty-one students reported that everything was all right, Rhodes said.

"Somebody didn't factor in the needs of the students when the calendar was made."

-Tom Rhodes

Student jobs were affected the most, followed by financial problems and child care. Students had to give up summer jobs one week early which caused financial woes and others were faced with the problem of finding alternate child care.

"Somebody didn't factor in the needs of the students when the calendar was made," Rhodes said. "School still could have started a week later and finished with finals on December 18, a week before Christmas."

As a winner of the University Distinguished Teaching award in 1994, Rhodes is very concerned with student welfare. He said he does not believe the calendar is the reason for the early start of the semester.

"There had to be a very strong reason to offset the needs of the students," Rhodes said. "Finance is the main concern of the students. This is not Stanford and our students are not rich."

The Faculty Council, comprised of a representative from each of the five departments of the business college and one at-large member, voted to ask administration for an explanation. As of this date, the council had not received a sufficient answer.

Terry Witkowski, professor of marketing, said he is not happy, and that few professors are happy about the change.

"It was not necessary," Witkowski said. "It created an inconvenience for professors who teach the third summer session. They are trying to finish grades and teach fall classes."

"Time is needed to prepare for new courses and it is difficult without time between sessions," he said.

Witkowski also pointed out that many academic conferences take place in August and the early fall start made it difficult for professors to attend. Another hardship, he said, is on students who are on special projects, internships or attending the third summer session. The third session ended August 21 and the fall opened August 24.

"One of my students missed the first week because he was working on a project in Japan and could not get back for this week," Witkowski said. "I have also noticed other students missing from classes."

Steve Choe, sophomore in business administration, said he missed the first two days of classes because he was not aware of the change.

"I never received any notification in the mail of the early start of the semester," Choe said. "I figured that classes would start next week like they usually do. I did not receive my schedule and I called to find out why and the secretary told me that school had started two days ago. I hope that I am not dropped from my classes."

Ed Murawski, coordinator of housing and residential life, said campus housing was not a problem for students. "We did not book any camps for the last week of the summer because of the early date, so students were able to move in," Murawski said.

"Marilyn Jensen (vice president of academic affairs) made the decision to start early," Witkowski said. "We sent e-mails, telephoned her office and sent someone over there. We have not received a response. She owes an apology to the entire university."

The Daily Forty-Niner attempted to speak with Marilyn Jensen, but she was unavailable.