<p>So, the school's official final exam schedule indicates that for this one class I'm taking, the final exam is supposed to take place on Wednesday from 3-5. Shouldn't this also mean that if the professor chooses to make students write papers instead, the papers should be due within that time frame on Wednesday? Instead, however, the professor is making things due tomorrow. My reservations about this are 1) she's not adhering to the official schedule and 2) Sunday is part of Reading Period, a time when nothing is supposed to be due. Do I have a legitimate basis for asking stuff to be due on Wednesday instead? Thanks.</p>
<p>Also, just found this on the Weinberg website:</p>
<p>"According to College legislation, no student may be required to hand
in any work whatsoever during the Reading Period, and no examinations
of any type may be given then. (Students are not prohibited, however,
from turning in work voluntarily during the Reading Period.)"</p>
<p>If you find that the due date of a required assignment falls during
the Reading Period, you should bring this to the attention of the
instructor immediately. If you encounter any difficulties, you should approach the chair of the department, or, if necessary, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs."</p>
<p>Reading</a> Week, Rules and Policies, Undergraduate Students, WCAS, Northwestern University</p>
<p>So is this different than the syllabus that the prof distributed the first week of class?
I think the cause for complaint would be warranted depending on when students were given the new requirements.
Some profs like papers instead of a test, some have open book tests others don't, even for the same class. But students should have adaquate time to prepare.
If the test was a scantron test & the papers are being submitted instead- those are going to require much more time to evaluate- and grades probably have to be due soon- so that is probably the reason for bumping it up.</p>
<p>But there's a college-wide policy prohibiting the requirement of work to be handed in during Reading Period... even so?</p>
<p>i dont think the argument that the paper is due before the designated final exam timeslot holds water. final projects and papers are often due during the last week of class, well before the reading period and final exams.</p>
<p>further, im not sure the evening before the paper is due is a good time to bring up an argument about its due date not adhering to university policy. that should have been approached a long time ago... or at least last week. that said, it is nonetheless pretty clearly in violation of university policy, so i cant imagine an extension (for all students) until the end of the period not being granted.</p>
<p>i wouldnt want to deal with the potential consequences, though, especially given the timing.</p>
<p>You're right. The professor shouldn't be giving you until Sunday. It should have been due the last day the class met.</p>
<p>It's almost certainly an attempt to do the students a favor (given that many people will have a bunch of projects due that week) while still ensuring that the professor will have time to grade the papers and calculate final grades before grades are due, but it's a bad move on her part.</p>
<p>On the other hand, since you and your classmates didn't bring this problem to her attention you first learned about the paper, it really comes off now as you not having planned well and using this as a ploy. You can go ask her to rethink things, but it's not likely to be well-received.</p>
<p>And really, you should have had the paper finished by the last day the class met, so that you had as much time as possible to study for those classes that do have finals.</p>
<p>In this particular case, she had something else planned for that last class session, so she couldn't have expected people to hand in their papers by then. She did grant the extension to the whole class but only until June 9th, the official start of finals week.</p>
<p>In the spirit of Reading Week regulations (to not stress students out too much for the sake of their mental health), I don't think deans would've encouraged professors to have papers due before Reading Week anyway.</p>
<p>I had a lazy professor once who was going to give us our final exam during the last week of classes. I had gone to the department chair about some other issues, and just happened to mention this. He jumped on it immediately, and said that the professor COULD NOT DO THIS. On the day of the exam, the professor handed it out and angrily said that it was "optional". I and several other students walked out and didn't take it.</p>
<p>If what your professor is doing is detrimental to your success IN ANY WAY, I'd report it, anonymously, to the department. Professors can be vindictive and those who are violating policy are NOT going to thank the students who call it to their attention. If it doesn't really matter to you, I'd get the paper done and turn it in and forget it.</p>
<p>Yea, she could definitely take this out on me when grading the paper, couldn't she? Is there any way to ensure that she doesn't (I would've done it anonymously but I didn't think of the possible consequences until it's too late)?</p>
<p>Given the often subjective nature of grading papers, I would consider the possibility.</p>
<p>Oops. I just read more carefully and saw that you have already addressed the issue. I'd do the best you can, and if you honestly feel that your grade was impacted, ask for some kind of review.</p>
<p>Could be that since the prof knows you are proactive in protecting your rights, the paper will be graded very fairly.</p>
<p>Ohhh well... I advised her to think of the time she was an undergraduate and reminded her that I'm just a busy student trying to get advantage I could get in this extremely critical time. I was also careful to put a :) at the end of my request, no matter how tacky it seemed. Better safe than sorry, I thought. Still, she hasn't responded to my original email, ignoring the other questions I had in it, and just sent a general note to the class. I don't know if she's really angry at me, because she knows I'd been working on this project and that I care a lot about it. When I presented in class, she was mesmerized and claimed she was "in love" with my ethnographic methods. She said my work was "extremely fascinating" and "innovative."</p>
<p>Oh, yeah. Profs just love it when undergraduates give them advice via email. As others have pointed out, this should have been addressed long before now.</p>
<p>Why not just do the paper and turn it in tomorrow?</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity: what was the "general note to the class" about?</p>
<p>I'm actually past the minimum required pages, but I don't consider myself done. </p>
<p>The general note basically informed the class that they have up to the 9th to submit the paper.</p>
<p>Too late now, but I would be spending zero time on the technicalities of "allowed" due dates for the paper, and a lot more time.... doing the paper. </p>
<p>What's up with questioning the validity of a June 9 deadline on June 7 - for a final paper that, presumably, is important to your grade?</p>
<p>VERY poor planning and complaining to the prof about the due state is basically just alerting the prof to your lack of good planning.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>the final exam is supposed to take place on Wednesday from 3-5. Shouldn't this also mean that if the professor chooses to make students write papers instead, the papers should be due within that time frame on Wednesday? >></p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>I would be working on the paper. Get it done. The prof has given you the deadline. There it is.</p>
<p>My nephew is a freshman at Northwestern and he had a FINAL TEST scheduled during Reading Week. My sister was fuming mad - she just assumed the professor wanted to leave for summer vacation a week early!</p>
<p>Is it for a Weinberg class? because the Reading Week policy is only for Weinberg. If so, the professor absolutely cannot force him or anyone in the class to take the final.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Too late now, but I would be spending zero time on the technicalities of "allowed" due dates for the paper, and a lot more time.... doing the paper.
[/quote]
I took 2 mins to write the email asking for an extension and wrote parts of the paper while waiting for a response. The 2 mins paid off because she granted the extension (she is required by the policy to do so... the original deadline was June 8th, which fell during Reading Week); I will suffer only if she's somehow angered by this and takes it out on me when grading the paper.</p>