Administrators and members of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate are working to increase the length of the university's fall reading period by one day, according to freshman TCU Senator Samia Zahran.
"I originally thought the [fall] reading period lasted three days, but it's only three days in the spring," and not in the fall, Zahran said. "I wondered why we didn't have three days in the fall."
Reading periods, which give students the chance to study without the burden of regular course work, occur between the official end of classes and the beginning of final exams each semester.
Zahran met with Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser last week to discuss the issue, and he suggested that she write a resolution arguing for an additional day to be added. "Dean Glaser was supportive of the idea," she said.
"They started working on this to give students a better chance to prepare for their exams and papers," TCU President Neil DiBiase said. "It's sort of a buffer between the regular year and exams."
According to Zahran, the Senate will put a question regarding the possible extension of reading period into its upcoming survey of the student body.
Zahran said that there would be at least one downside to adding an extra reading day.
"We're going to ask kids if they would have a problem with an extra day, because adding an extra day would essentially mean that they would have to stay at Tufts longer," she said.
Zahran said that a few variables would affect the implementation of this new policy. The university's academic calendar and the dates for winter break, she said, "are already set years in advance." She explained that adding an extra day could interfere with academic schedules that are already established.
Depending on the year, the extension of fall reading period could also bring finals too close to Christmas. "It would only happen when applicable," Zahran said, explaining that an extra day could potentially be added during some years and not others.
Zahran said that the Senate will wait to receive its survey's results before moving forward on this project.
