The administration at Eastern Nazarene College is proposing a new academic class schedule for the 2019-2020 school year.
The proposed new schedule year has not yet been finalized, and is being voted on in December. Aaron Hebert, Executive Director of Social Life, participated in the meetings regarding the new schedule and was a part of the revisions and overall proposal. Hebert explained that the current schedule is unusual compared to that of other colleges in that the start and end times are very random. Hebert said, “the 7:45 a.m. start time is odd.” The purpose of this new schedule is to better accommodate students and faculty. The science lab times, as of right now, are excessively long and late in the day. The new schedule is meant to ease the stress of that. The Student Senate gained insight on the proposed schedule and, overall, they feel it is a positive decision.
ENC’s Student Body President, Monica Ly, was also a part of the daily schedule task force, which consisted of weekly meetings which started in September 2018. She believes this new schedule to be a small step in the right direction. Ly explained that while the new schedule would not solve everything regarding class times and conflicts with sports, it would certainly help some of the problems with the current schedule. Because the science labs are so long and late in the day, athletes in the labs have to choose between missing lab and missing practice. For the commuter students, it is challenging to show up to 7:45 a.m. classes on time due to the traffic congestion on the roads and the unpunctuality of the trains.
Hebert and Ly both agree that the changes are not dramatically different but should still influence positive change. Hebert explains that the current 15-minute transition time between classes was meant for students who had to shuttle to and from business classes in the Old Colony building. Since classes are no longer held there, the new transition time will be 10 minutes. This amount of time was chosen because those in the meetings felt anything less than that would not allow enough time for those with handicaps to get to their classes. Another proposed change would be to start classes at 8:10 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.
The new schedule would also allow students to get lunch at different times. Currently, the cafeteria is overcrowded in the afternoon, most noticeably just after the 12:35 p.m. class time. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday a staggered “Period 3” will be established, so that there are staggered times from 11:30 AM to 12:50 PM.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, a community hour block from 12:55 pm to 1:55 pm will be established, so that students can get lunch after class. The Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes would also lose a drop day, but Tuesday and Thursday classes would gain one. This change is mostly meant to hold professors accountable and not allow them to cancel classes for unnecessary reasons.
The changes included in this new plan are mostly to align ENC’s schedule with that of other colleges. It is also supposed to ease some of the aforementioned problems with the current schedule. The changes are not drastic, and therefore the adjustment should be smooth.