Students React to New Fall Schedule, Task Force Prepares Revisions for Spring

As the new school year begins, so too does a new schedule. Due to difficulties with the previous schedule in living up to federal and Middle States regulations that legitimize institutions of higher education, specifically with regard to the Course Enrichment Component, or CEC, once unique to the College, Ramapo has adopted a new schedule to better comply with these requirements.

The schedule offers several controversial changes the student body has been wrestling with. While classes used to meet once or twice a week, now many classes are meeting 2 to 3 times a week. Beyond that, 20 collective minutes have been added to every class, to make up for the removal of CEC. Classes that meet three times a week run for 70 minutes per session, while classes that meet two times a week are now running for 100 minutes plus a 10-minute break.

Besides classes, the other change the new schedule has implemented is the new break times for clubs and organizations. The common hour from 1 to 2 p.m. daily is history, replaced by two 55-minute breaks on Tuesdays and Fridays, with Wednesdays possessing a 1 to 5:15 p.m. break for students.

According to Eddie Seavers, associate director of the Center for Student Involvement and coordinator of the Student Center, “The students appear to have adjusted to the new schedule without much comment either way.”

However, interviews with students seem to show a bit of dissatisfaction with the present schedule.

Sophomore Dave Cifelli commented that the new schedule “is inconvenient with the longer classes and ‘not so common’ common hours.”

Fellow sophomore Mehnaz Ladha expressed similar sentiments, saying that the new schedule, “makes things difficult in regards to commuting for the weekend.”

Because of this dissatisfaction with the new schedule from some faculty members and students, the College has composed a task force to create a new schedule for the spring semester. This task force, according to Seavers, is composed mostly of faculty with two slots for Student Government Association representatives.

In fact, they have already drafted a new schedule for the spring semester, according to Provost Beth Barnett. While classes are maintaining the same time frame as they are now, the task force introduced a more flexible time slot where faculty could schedule a Monday/Wednesday/Thursday class from 4 to 5:10 p.m. or a 4 to 5:40 p.m. class on Mondays and Wednesdays or Mondays and Thursdays.

That being said, the most significant change is with the common hours. Instead of the 55-minute breaks on Tuesday and Friday, the free time block has been expanded on the drafted schedule to 80-minute blocks on Monday and Thursday.

However, the common time on Wednesday has been shortened and moved, now taking place from 12 to 3:30 p.m.

With many reacting negatively to the announcement of the current schedule, it remains to be seen whether this new schedule, composed by the faculty and the SGA, will satisfy the wants and desires of those on campus.

dirons@ramapo.edu