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Work is progressing on academic strength
To the Editor,
An article appearing in the Reporter of Thursday, Sept. 22, under the headline "Work on UB 2020 Moves Forward" contains the following misinformation that we wish to have corrected.
It informs the UB community that "The planning committee for the strategic strength Literary, Cultural and Textual Studies held a retreat on May 3, but has yet to begin work on a white paper." In fact, several department chairs have been meeting and exchanging drafts throughout the summer and the early weeks of this semester, working with notes from the envisioning retreat, as well as materials provided by many colleagues in Arts and Sciences, the University Libraries and the Humanities Institute.
A (retitled) Cultural, Historical and Literary Studies white paper is well into draft mode and will be ready for circulation and discussion shortly.
Sincerely,
J. Theodore Pena,
Associate Professor and Chair,
Department of Classics
Shaun Irlam,
Associate Professor and Chair,
Department of Comparative Literature
Mark Shechner,
Professor and Chair,
Department of English
Tamara P. Thornton,
Professor and Chair,
Department of History
Maureen Jameson,
Associate Professor and Chair,
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
Change in M-W-F schedule is advocated
To the Editor,
Since the mid-1970s, UB has cancelled classes on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year, these holy days fall on a Tuesday and a Thursday, so those following a T-Th schedule will miss two classes, more than 7 percent of scheduled classroom time.
Canceling classes on religious holy days is an unwarranted policy that brings state and church too close for comfort. It treats religions asymmetrically and shows disdain for teaching and learning, our very raison d'être.
It is, however, the generic calendar problem that concerns me most.
We would all be much better served by a M-Th, T-F, and W-W schedule, with 80-minute classes three or four days apart, or 160-minute classes a week apart.
It would do wonders for classroom utilization, parking and commuting, bus scheduling and education. We would have about 7 percent more classroom time (compared to a M-W-F schedule) and midterms would no longer be speedwriting contests—all that at much-reduced costs in money, frustration and gasoline use.
Not only UB, but the whole SUNY system—and indeed all of our educational industries—would be well-served by this calendar design.
Sincerely,
John C. G. Boot
Professor
School of Management