Faculty Senate accepts ASL, refines discussion on Saturday exams

4:27 p.m., Nov. 8, 2011--Senators voted to accept American Sign Language as a language for admission to the University of Delaware during the regular meeting of the UD Faculty Senate held Monday, Nov. 7, in Gore Hall.

Under the proposal, American Sign Language would qualify for admission to the University but would not be one of the languages offered by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

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Senators also amended a proposal to eliminate final exams on Saturdays during the spring and fall semesters. Following discussion, senators voted to send the amended proposal back to the Committee on Undergraduate Studies for further discussion on the impact of the elimination of exams on Saturdays during spring and fall semesters.

While the majority of senators voted in favor of changing the proposal to read “whereas Saturday is not typically a day for final exams on campus,” concerns were expressed about the flexibility of a professor to reschedule an exam to a Saturday to accommodate students with single day multiple exam schedules. 

John Morgan, associate professor of physics and astronomy and member of the senate’s ad hoc committee on the academic calendar, presented senators with a list of colleges and universities that hold final exams during the weekend. 

While Morgan cautioned against adopting a resolution that would eliminate flexibility for students and professors in creating an alternative exam schedule that might include a Saturday exam, others disliked the idea of any deviation from the proposal to completely eliminate Saturday exams.

During a Faculty Senate open hearing held Oct. 24, the senate proposed the addition of three 75-minute class periods on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and to eliminate most Friday afternoon classes. A podcast of the Oct. 24 meeting can be seen here.

The Faculty Senate also approved requests to revise the wildlife conservation major and to delete the engineering technology major and minor by Sept. 1, 2016.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Faculty Senate will be held at 4 p.m., Monday, Dec. 5, in 104 Gore Hall. 

Article by Jerry Rhodes