COMMITTEE:    Calendar

MEETING DATE:   September 26, 2005

PERSON PRESIDING:   John Crammer

ATTENDEES:  Jonathan Dembo, Shanan Gibson, Punam Madhok, Rebecca Powers, John Crammer

EX-OFFICIO:  Mary Farwell, Jenilyn Turner

ACTIONS OF THE MEETING:

The meeting was called to order at 3:30 pm in Rawl 142 by John Crammer as chair of last year’s committee.  This is the organizational meeting (second attempt) of the 2005-2006 committee. 

Officers were elected as follows:

Chair:                     John Crammer

Vice Chair:             Rebecca Powers

Secretary:              Shanan Gibson

Rebecca Powers moved, Jonathan Dembo seconded, approval of the minutes of the September 12 meeting.  Motion passed.

Dembo suggested that the Outlook calendar feature be used to schedule future meetings in order to help avoid conflicts in meeting times for reasons other than teaching schedules.  He said that this would be more efficient than canvassing committee members by e-mail.  Each Department has a computer liaison on how to use the Outlook calendar.

Crammer asked the committee to invite Aaron Lucier, Housing, to the next meeting.  Last spring he asked to meet with the committee prior to a decision being made with regard to having Memorial Day off and/or having a one-day break between the first and second summer sessions.  Powers asked about the survey of first session faculty on their preferences about the choice of which day to have off.  Crammer said that faculty teaching only first session had a strong preference for the Memorial Day off and faculty teaching both sessions were equally divided between which day to have off (some faculty wanted both days off).  The Executive Council is considering making Memorial Day a staff holiday.  Shanan Gibson said that if the staff gets Memorial Day off, there should not be classes on that day.  With regard to the need for a registration day for the summer, it was noted that if students register over the web, there would be no need for a registration day.  If there is no registration day on Monday for first session, there is room for both a Memorial Day holiday and a day between sessions.  The question is whether online registration can adequately replace registration day. 

Next, the committee worked on formulating a policy for making up class days missed due to adverse weather.  County schools do not make up days when less than half a day is lost; community colleges make up any missed classes.  Historically, administrators decide when East Carolina needs to make up days.  Having a make-up day was stated as being especially critical for mathematics and science classes (particularly for courses that have common exams), and classes that meet only one day per week (e.g., night classes and labs). The committee’s opinion is that it is our responsibility to recommend policy on how to make up missed days, but it should be an administrative decision on whether or not to make up missed days.  The committee started with a rough draft based on what last year’s calendar committee had recommended.  It is recommended that the decision on when to make up classes should be made as soon as possible after canceling classes.  For Fall semester, the recommendation is to use, in order, Reading days at the end of the semester, Tuesday of Fall Break, Monday of Fall Break, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  For Spring semester, the recommendation is to use, in order, Reading days at the end of the semester, Good Friday, and (with the Chancellor’s approval) days during the week of Spring Break.  One concern is determining who is responsible for putting the policy in action.  Another question is in what order are make up days paired with missed days when making up more than one missed day (e.g., suppose weather cancels classes for two consecutive days).  Jonathan Dembo recommended that situations not be limited only to days missed due to weather, but should also consider other situations that would cause days to be missed.  Rebecca Powers pointed out Catherine Rigsby’s memo to the committee asking the committee to develop policies on both how to make up missed days and under what conditions missed days should be made up.

The next meeting will be at 3:30 Monday, October 24.  The committee will finalize and vote on a policy for making up missed class days.  Aaron Lucier, Housing, will be invited to meet with the committee concerning problems with not having a day off between the two summer sessions.

Meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.