Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
Dean of Students Liz Braun announced this Tuesday that the spring finals schedule has been revised again, this time condensing Honors exams into single 12 hour session. Rather than taking three three-hour written exams and three one-hour oral exams spread out over a week, students will enter McCabe at 8:00 a.m. and leave at 8:00 p.m.
In a statement provided to The Daily Gazette, Braun explain that this decision was drawn from the enrolled student survey conducted last spring, where 79% of students expressed that they would prefer fewer days of exams. More adjustments based on survey feedback are on the way, Braun assured, following a confirmation of how many hours each day professors can legally be kept in the classroom.
Student reaction to the change has been mixed. While some have attempted to re-establish the strong response to the previous spring schedule change, most merely shrugged when asked for comment. “At this point, getting screwed over was an inevitability,” said Peter Ross ‘15. “It was just a question of when and where.”
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Diane Anderson understood the initial backlash to the change, but wanted to assure students that they should not be worried. She went on to say that she believes a shortened exam period will not affect the performance of students, because Honors students “don’t wait until the week before honors exams to study […] they never cram it into a short period of time.”
One senior, Patrice Harlow ‘15, attempted to organize a large-scale protest in Parrish, but found that students were too busy cramming for finals to attend.
Featured image courtesy of static.guim.co.uk.
