Senate to hold block schedule forum

In response to student complaints, The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate will hold a forum after Thanksgiving to address a variety of student concerns with the new block schedule.

The new block schedule, implemented this semester, has received mixed reviews among students. Athletes in particular have spoken against the new schedule, as many now have afternoon classes that conflict with practices.

The Senate set up a committee to take student complaints on the new schedule. Sophomores Alexis Smith, head of the Education Committee, and Jackie Zapata, head of the Administration and Budget Committee, combined their efforts in hopes of resolving the problems.

Smith said the goals of the committee are "to work together to come up with a compromise that will appease all people involved _ administrators, students and professors."

Students are also able to voice their complaints via e-mail to the Senate. Zapata said they have been receiving "a steady amount of e-mails" concerning this issue.

The Senate expects he forum to be a place where students can come and voice their concerns to administrators. Afterwards, if the administration thinks there is a legitimate problem, it will discuss changes with each department, said Zapata.

Zapata is optimistic about the outcomes for the forum. "If this [the forum] is advertised enough, there is a big turnout, and students complain, something will be done," she said.

"One idea discussed was to add more Friday classes, which would space classes along the week rather than within the day," Smith said. Though this will make it harder for students to arrange the coveted three-day weekend, students will have a choice between early mornings or evening classes and Friday afternoon classes, Zapata said. The changes, she said, are not likely to result in a complete overhaul of the block schedule but merely a shifting of class times.

"The population most impacted by the changes is athletes," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said. Because of the scheduling changes that pushed more classes into the late afternoon, athletes often have trouble scheduling practices around classes. Lab sciences were initially an issue, but sports such as football arranged their practices later to allow students to attend the labs.

"The new schedule affected me, especially during the football season because classes were a lot later in the day," sophomore football player Jack Byrne said. "[Practice] takes four hours out of the day. If they're offering more classes later in the day, it definitely narrows down what I can take."

The forum is scheduled to be held after Thanksgiving and follows the completion of another internal study to determine a way to solve schedule-related problems.

The biggest problem with the previous scheduling arrangement was the high concentration of classes during the middle of the day, Interim Dean of Academic Affairs Paul Stanton said. It was, he said, "a disaster in terms of scheduling" for students.