Think back to what you were doing last Monday night, April 1. You were probablyrelaxing with friends, fresh off a weeklong, holiday-filled Spring Break. Nota bad way to begin the semester’#146;s homestretch.
But there were those on campus who did not get to enjoy that night. In fact,some students didn’#146;t get to fully enjoy the vacation at all. Why? Verysimple- they had a test to take that evening.
Four days after the start of Passover and one day after Easter Sunday, ProfessorDale Drueckhammer scheduled a midterm exam for his CHE 322 students. That’#146;sotherwise known as Organic Chemistry II, one of the most difficult and time-consumingcourses offered at SBU.
Given the volume of Biology and Chemistry majors we have here, CHE 322 is avery large class. Hundreds of students sit in Javits 100 every Monday, Wednesday,and Friday morning. These students work exceptionally in what is a very demandingand time-consuming course.
This class is a perfect example of why we have vacations. Dictionary.com definesa ‘vacation’ as a fixed period of holidays, especially one duringwhich a school, court, or business suspends activities. That suspension fromschool activities is vital for all of us. Spring Break, especially, is a timeto just have some fun before the grueling last few weeks begin.
It is in theory, anyway. By scheduling an exam the day after Spring Break ended,Professor Drueckhammer managed to defeat the vacation’#146;s entire purpose.I know students in his class who were forced to study every day of the break.In essence, they had to spend the majority of the time off having no time offat all. There was even a two-hour review session held on Easter Sunday- that’#146;soutrageous!
A source informs me that Professor Drueckhammer said he gave the test on thatday to avoid a room scheduling conflict. As far as I’#146;m concerned, that’#146;sa very close second to the one where the dog ate my homework. But I don’#146;thave a dog, and I don’#146;t believe Professor Drueckhammer has a worthy excuseeither.
This is a very large campus; there must have been rooms available on, say,April 2. I can honestly say that this editorial would not have been writtenif the exam had been given on that Tuesday instead. That one day would havebeen enough for me, and it sure would have helped out hundreds of students ina big way.
Professor, I yield you the floor. At the VERY least (and it wouldn’#146;t hurtto add extra points to every grade as further compensation), your students deservea full-fledged, completely honest explanation as to why their 2002 Spring Breakwill always be remembered as the one where they weren’#146;t off from school.
