Major Schedule Changes Next Semester

The school year schedule will change dramatically in the spring. Common hour is being moved to 1:30 p.m. from 2:30 p.m. and an additional ten minutes will be added to every class.

The change is the first to be made to the schedule in about nine years and occurs after a periodic review of the policies of the school, the state, and accreditors.

Students, for instance, who take four classes 4-credits each, will now receive an extra hour and twenty minutes per week.

Dr. Dorothy Escribano, interim provost & senior vice president for academic affairs, said, “Our main goal was to optimize the student academic experience…. change is hard but, in the end, we are aligning our schedule with the other SUNY schools, the number one priority is giving quality to the student experience.” She added that the school took many considerations into account before changing the school schedule.

Referring to the longer class time, Associate Professor of Sociology Peter Ikeler, the head of the faculty union at SUNY OW, said, “On the face of the increase it’s not bad, it could be pedagogically better, maybe longer discussions, more time to get through work. Many of the faculty are not opposed to the idea of it because we want the best for our students… the concern is the increase in work time sets a bad precedent. if the administration just increases our workload and nothing else changes.”

The changes are now in effect and the times will be reflected when students begin to register for the spring 2024 semester. With the extra ten minutes added to the schedule, it may seem small but it is a major change to student and faculty lives.

How do students and faculty to respond to this change? Many are not even aware of the change. However,when shown the new schedule, the reactions were mixed.

One faculty member, who preferred not to be identified, said, “The new schedule will bring more cohesion onto campus. I think for my purpose as a social worker, a lot of students miss events because they are too late, 1:30 is a good time.”

Angie, a student, said, “I dorm here and I think 1:30 common hour is too early, it will take some time for me to get adjusted to this new schedule.”

Dr. Escribano added that the administration relied on input from students: “We’re optimizing the student academic experience; with the early common hour, many students can have the time to be involved and take part that don’t have to wait around from early classes until 2:30 as in previous semesters. We sent students a survey, and we changed the time according to the outcome of that survey.”

According to the results, a majority of students voted for the earlier common hour.

Another issue that arises with the new schedule is the two times allotted for evening classes. Many students may have trouble getting a full schedule to qualify as full-time students because of the limited time slots and the duration of each class.

Public Health Professor Martha Livingstone said, “If I have my public health class in the evening, I usually do it as a double period, once a week. So, if a student was in my class, that you can’t be in another class on that night because we only have those two periods.”

Dr. Escribano pointed out that student has four days (MTWT) to take three or four 4-credit classes-two each evening, every semester.

However, one faculty member noted, “With this new schedule, if you look, the last graduate class ends at 10:40 pm now. So, we are expected to keep certain facilities open later and come in earlier than well. Many student workers can’t or won’t want to stay that late.” So why are these changes being made?

Dr. Escribano said that in 2014 SUNY Old Westbury instituted changes in the schedule that the new administration found did not comply with regulations of the New York State Board of Education and SUNY. There was push back from the union and some faculty members. Dr. Escribano had meetings with the Faculty Senate and the union.

On June 1st, 2023, President Timothy Sams wrote to David Cantaffa, interim senior associate provost, academic affairs at SUNY, outlining the changes. He relayed the issue to the New York State Education Department.

“We’ve been regularly reviewed as a college by multiple external bodies and none of them have said we were out of compliance for the credited hours, only internally administration felt we, were out of compliance and told SUNY central and these changes were then made,” Professor Ikeler said.

He emphasized some negotiations are still underway: “The campus administration is in fact required by NYS Public Employee Relations Board to negotiate the impacts of work schedule changes. So, our union is trying to engage them in these necessary discussions, and we are hopeful for a fair outcome that fulfills this requirement.”

Dr. Escribano said, “I’ve been to many schools, and I see a deep commitment to students from faculty here… an extra ten minutes will not go to waste, it will allow students and faculty to have the time they deserve.”

The undergraduate class schedule that goes into effect next spring is:

The graduate class schedule that goes into effect next spring is: