As finals week creeps closer, members of the SGA are working to make cramming for exams easier on future students.

Last week the Student Government Association unanimously voted in support of a bill that asks the administration to increase the number of study days, called reading days by the university, provided for students before exam week begins, a move legislators said is critical to successful academic performance.

“[One study day] really isn’t enough time for most students who often have more than one exam,” said journalism legislator Michelle Chan, who wrote the resolution. “If students are taking 15 credits on average, you can generally count on at least three to four exams each semester. Sometimes they’re spaced out but often they’re not. … I like to think I would do better if I had more time.”

Several SGA legislators said another primary concern is that sometimes the study day — intended to be a block of time with no classes for students to prepare for exams — falls on a weekend. This puts students who don’t work on Saturday or Sunday for religious reasons at an unfair disadvantage, they said.

The bill doesn’t specify how many extra days the SGA is seeking, but Chan said legislators are hoping for two or three — the number provided at several of the university’s peer institutions. At the very least, she said, she wants to ensure the study day doesn’t create a religious conflict.

SGA Vice President of Academic Affairs Saba Gyemfi said she learned of the scheduling procedures only after she met with former Provost Nariman Farvardin last month to figure out the logistical details of the SGA’s proposal, and that administrators were supportive of the concept.

However, no changes to the academic calendar could begin until at least the fall semester of the 2016-2017 year — well after Chan herself will have graduated — as the schedule has been predetermined for the next five years. Even then, adding additional study days could be complicated by a minimum number of instruction days required for each term period, and administrators must also consider religious holidays and other university-observed closures when scheduling.

“We want to get rolling with this now,” Chan said. “A lot of the things you do, you don’t see immediate results.”

Gyemfi said she has been meeting with Associate Provost Betsy Beise — who helps determine the academic calendar — and also hopes to put a student on the committee for the first time.

Many students said they would welcome an extra day of studying and feel that the SGA proposal is a good idea.

“I usually plan finals studying pretty well, so I haven’t had a problem,” junior government and politics major Sean Ace said. “But I’ve talked to others and I can tell it’s a problem for the majority of the student body. I don’t think students would use it to party because of how serious finals are.”

But much to the legislators’ surprise, they said administrators were not even been aware of students’ concerns about a single study day — which Chan said indicates the student body should be more vocal about their concerns and that administrators should be more proactive in eliciting student input.

“I think it is an issue that affects all students and there are concerns about this,” Chan said. “That may be a greater problem with students understanding that they do have a say in policy, and the administration needs to recognize that and communicate that to the student body.”

Because scheduling circumstances differ from year to year, Gyemfi said they are flexible about how many study days could realistically be added.

“Each academic year is different, so to choose a number isn’t going to help,” Gyemfi said. “We would like as many as we possibly can get.”

The effort will be one of the last for Gyemfi, a graduating senior who took over the executive position earlier this semester when the original vice president of academic affairs, Lisa Crisalli, stepped down.

But Gyemfi will pass the baton to Jamil Scott, the current Denton legislator and a sponsor of the bill, who said she is eager to continue the effort after she is inaugurated into the executive position next week.

Scott said she and Chan, who will remain as the journalism legislator next semester, plan to continue meeting with Beise to keep the plan moving forward.

“If Maryland wants to continue establishing itself as one of the best universities in the country, then we need to get with it and make sure that our students are able to succeed and do better than other students at other universities,” Scott said.

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