Starting in Fall 2018, Mercer will be shifting from a standard semester length of 15 weeks to 14 weeks, with the starting date for classes being September 5, a week later than usual. This will be the new norm.
The shortened semester doesn’t mean less class time, however. To make up the difference, most classes are being lengthened by a few minutes while the time to get from one room to another on campus is being shortened.
In a survey of 50 students, The VOICE found that 75 percent either like the change or don’t care, while 25 percent are against it.
Derek Jovain, a freshman year student studying communications, says, ”One week doesn’t make a big difference, I think is a good idea.”
Another positive view was expressed by Tamaryn Auld, a nursing major, who said, ”I like the idea of having an extra week in the summer, I can spend more time at the shore.”
Of the students surveyed who were against the calendar change their concerns centered on completing all their work with one less week.
One student wrote on the survey, ‘’When you are taking high level math and science classes, making semesters shorter means less class time to cover material, making it a lot harder.”
On the other hand, Mercer does offer ten week sections of most classes and five week sessions in the summer that are fully enrolled, so there is a precedent for teaching in shorter time frames.
The student survey showed, overall, that students were not well informed about the change. Eighty percent hadn’t heard about it. Those who had said they were informed by their professors.
Keighley Webb, a sophomore Education major said, “I love the idea of starting after Labor Day, so I can make plans for my Labor Day weekend, but I hate the idea of having longer periods. As of now with an hour and fifteen minutes, I’m already gone by the end of the period.”
Concern about the way the change was made was a central theme among faculty members.
Professor of Communications Alvyn Haywood said, “We were surprised that the decision was taken in action so fast. I hope this was made to benefit the students and not for other reasons.”
One faculty member who asked to remain anonymous said, “According to the president this is a good idea. I am not completely sure but I hope so for all students. I don’t think they took this decision based on data and not enough thoughts were put in. Many decisions have been made by administration without consulting faculty. They did it again and here we are trying to figure it out how to teach enough minutes per credits.”
Art Schwartz, Mathematics Professor and President of Faculty Association says, “What I get upset about is when administration wants to make a change. [I say] don’t make a change because you need to make a change, make changes for good, changes can be good or can be bad…When you make a change tell me why. If there is a problem, okay let’s make a change and fix it. But first you need to know the problem. Their problem was to start school after Labor Day and to finish before Christmas break. Their solution was the 14 week calendar.”
Some faculty members acknowledged that the process had been flawed and felt they knew why.
One faculty member who asked to remain anonymous said: “A hand full of cranky old professors are pissed off about the new schedule, but they are cranky anyway. Did the administration bungle the roll out? Yes. But it’s just part of the overall inexperience of our leadership. Most of them got here about five minutes ago. Maybe at some point, they will learn to ask us for help, but in the meantime, most of us have just moved on. We can adapt. It’s not the end of the world.”
Tracy McCarthy, a Professor who teaches Public Speaking and Human Communications classes sees specific benefits. She says, “I see this as a good change because when a student is not done with their vacation or their summer job, and they have to skip the first week of classes, this frustrates me. The first week is crucial to go over the syllabus and to meet your classmates especially in a public speaking class where you need to feel confident to be able to speak in front of the class. When they miss that week and come later they can feel left out.”
Another faculty member who sees the change as a minor shift is Carol Bork Professor of English. She told The VOICE, “A fourteen week academic calendar is not a problem. I think it’s a good idea. Many other colleges do the same. It is going to take time [for faculty] to figure out how to break down the curriculums, but that’s not going to be a big problem.”
Meanwhile, Susan Zambrio Assistant Vice President at MCCC told The VOICE via email that being in line with most of the community colleges academic calendars in New Jersey didn’t play a significant role in this decision.
On the other hand, some faculty members do see problems.
Michael Dorneman Professor of Science told The Voice, “For the Science classes involved with laboratory times, the new calendar is going to be a challenge. I am worried that students are not going to have enough time to study all the material that is required for these types of courses. The lab periods are longer already. Adding more minutes is just going to make students overwhelmed.”
A major concern voiced on all sides was whether or not the schedule with the updated time periods would be made available on time for students to get advising and be registered for fall.
Professor Schwartz said, “I hope we can get a master schedule soon so the program coordinators, the deans and faculty will know their schedule so we can start signing students in [to classes] in early March as we usually do.”
Administrators say these concerns are being addressed.
Dean of Liberal Arts Robert Kleinschmidt told The VOICE: “All we want to do is to help students to graduate on time and to have better opportunities, and if starting after Labor Day is better for them because they have childcare problems, seasonal jobs, or any other problem that interferes with enrollment, then we are helping them to succeed.”
Dean Kleinschmidt went on to say: “We are working now on the new classes schedule, trying to put together the times and making sure we can offer as many classes as we can. It has been a challenge but we are being positive that it would be done in time for early registration in March.”
One thing that is certain is that the change puts Mercer’s schedule in closer alignment with those of our neighboring community colleges. Twelve out of the 19 regional community colleges are already on a 14 week semester schedule.
Zambrio also mentioned that students are being informed about the change by some of their instructors and the fall schedule will be posted online within the next couple of weeks.
