Editorial: Revise final exam policies

With fall semester final examinations approaching, a review of current final examination policies is in order. In particular, the policy concerning the rescheduling of final examinations — which permits rescheduling for athletic conflicts but not for any other conflicts with University-sponsored extracurricular activities — needs revising. This policy must be changed to ensure uniformity and fairness.

The current policy states that the only appropriate reasons for granting requests to reschedule are “religious days, personal emergencies (on a case by case basis) and more than one examination scheduled on the same day.” However, the University also allows sports teams to reschedule their final exams if they have a postseason game or tournament that conflicts with the date and time of the exam. Other University-sponsored extracurriculars are not given this consideration. This lack of equal application is detrimental: Sports teams are not the only valuable extracurricular on this campus, nor are they more important than the other extracurriculars that the University sponsors. Therefore, they should not be the only ones with this opportunity — members of organizations like the University Band, the Debate Team and Mock Trial — groups that sometimes have events scheduled during finals week — should also have this option.

It is understandable that the Registrar does not want to be flooded with requests to reschedule final examinations, nor do they want students to use affiliation with a University sponsored organization as an excuse to take an exam at a different time. These concerns can be solved by adopting a new system of rescheduling approval: A student requesting to move his or her exam would have to present the Registrar with a letter from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students. This letter would need to have two things. First, certification that the student is a member of a University sponsored club, team or organization. Second, that the said club, team or organization has a legitimate event at the time of the exam in which the student is participating. If the student can provide the Registrar with such a letter, his or her request to reschedule an exam should be granted.

Currently, some students in these groups are able to convince professors to go behind the Registrar’s back. But because some professors are simply more lenient than others when it comes to rescheduling, it is often the luck of the draw that will determine if the student can move their exam without the Registrar’s approval. Having professors override the final examination policy is harmful to the students and the mission of the Registrar; ideally, rather than relying on professors to individually correct poor policies, the Registrar should simply adopt better policies itself to ensure fairness for all students.

This new system would create uniformity in the final examination process. Therefore, it is in the students’ and the Registrar’s best interest to change its policies for granting requests to reschedule exams.