[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Representatives of the University of Wisconsin student government officially proposed adding a guaranteed full "study day" prior to the start of finals week Monday.

During a meeting of the University Committee, the highest committee of the Faculty Senate, representatives from the Associated Students of Madison asked for the academic calendar to be revised for fall semesters beginning in 2009.

Currently, when Labor Day falls on Sept. 4 or later, exams begin on the same day as the university-designated study day, which is intended to fall between the last day of classes and the first exam day.

ASM has proposed moving the exam period at 7:45 p.m. on the designated study day to 5:05 p.m. on the same day of commencement, which currently has exams scheduled at 7:45 a.m., 10:05 a.m. and 7:45 p.m.

The proposed change would not have an effect on commencement scheduling.

According to ASM's letter to the Faculty Senate, which is responsible for approving academic calendars, UW is the only university in the Big Ten to at least occasionally begin its exam period the day after classes end.

"It's the best proposal to fit all the rules and make everybody happy at the end," ASM committee member Hannah Karn said. "At the ASM spring kickoff, a lot of students showed up just to show their support for the campaign."

The ASM committee presented a large orange board filled with dozens of signatures from students who supported adding a full study day.

ASM Student Council Chair Dylan Rath, who also headed the committee, said the impetus for change came after the fall 2006 exam period, when some students had exams the day after classes ended Dec. 15.

"When there wasn't a study day last semester, I got a flood of e-mails from people who did have exams the next day saying, 'We need to do something about this,'" Rath said.

William Tracy of the University Committee expressed concern with the timing of commencement.

After hearing the proposal, Tracy said they would discuss the students' concern and weigh the options before deciding whether or not to forward the proposal to the full Faculty Senate.

"My reaction is it would be great to have an extra day — it's just a question of if it's too much of a hardship on the commencement," Tracy said. "We have to consider what the students prefer least."

When Tracy raised the possibility of graduating seniors having a final exam during commencement weekend, the ASM committee suggested scheduling freshman and sophomore-only classes during the proposed time period.

However, Secretary of the Faculty David Musolf said the senate would need to check the feasibility of such an idea.

"They'll have to talk with the Instructional Space Office to find out about the scheduling," Musolf said. "They've said it's very hard to sequester or divide out courses only offered to freshmen and sophomores."

Musolf said the Faculty Senate already has addressed the issue in the past, and made it a "top priority." However, due to space constraints — and the number of courses — the faculty runs into problems itself when Labor Day is after Sept. 4.

Karn said the ASM committee has secured support from Dean of Students Lori Berquam, and is in the process of obtaining endorsements from several student organizations.

"Realistically, I think we're expecting they'll get back to us with their thoughts with a few recommendations," ASM committee member Gideon Martin said. "[W]e hope to … get it approved before the year is out."