Some professors now have an option to teach an extra day this summer.
The University of Iowa Office of the Registrar is allowing teachers to extend their classes to Monday through Friday rather than last summer’s Monday through Thursday schedule.
Last summer, courses were only offered four weekdays because faculty and administrators were under the impression that Friday classes in the summer would be unappealing to students.
“The idea was we wouldn’t have class on Friday because more students would probably come to summer school if we only had school Monday through Thursday,” said Larry Lockwood, a UI assistant provost in the Registrar’s Office. “[It changed because] the deans felt students needed more time to complete their work.”
Specifically, teachers who such teach courses as chemistry, physics, and languages have requested to teach on Fridays.
Lockwood said some of the departments have too much material to compress into a four-day school week.
UI freshman Ben Hicklin thinks the change will be beneficial to learning more intensive material.
“Yeah, it takes away from your Friday, but it gives you more time to learn the information and get a better education,” he said.
Other students, however, are hesitant about the change.
“It would be bad for people trying to gain residency in Iowa because having Friday classes would make it harder to schedule work hours,” UI sophomore Bobby Vitullo said. “It would also take time away from studying.”
Vitullo said he believes the move could have a negative effect on students who work over the summer or are just trying to gain a few extra course hours.
Lockwood said the Registrar’s Office is simply complying with the requests of certain colleges.
“We don’t make the rules,” Lockwood said. “We just support the system and manage what the colleges want.”
The majority of courses, however, will be held Monday through Thursday.
“It will just depend on the teacher to see if they want to teach [on Fridays],” Lockwood said. “It’s not mandatory that [there will be courses] on Fridays, it’s only by exception.”
Anthropology Professor James Enloe, who will teaching an archeological field class, said he and the students will go to the Coralville Reservoir to dig five days a week.
Enloe, who has taught the course for the past three years, said he has always taught his class on Fridays as an exception to the rule, but hethinks other courses will benefit from the extra day.
“I think there’s some courses that if you try to take everything Monday through Thursday, you’ll have really tight, jammed-up hours,” Enloe said.
Enloe said he not only believes it will be beneficial for course material but also for the well-being of students.
“In the summer, there are short sessions, meaning the class lasts twice as long,” he said. “It takes a big bite out of the students’ week already. If you spread [the courses] out to Friday, it’ll take away from the students’ stress.”