Dead week may be ending today, but it’s not too late to take a stand if your professors are violating school policy and conducting weighty exams during week 10. There are clear University policies that delineate what professors are allowed assign to be due during this week, so if your professor is violating any of the rules below, we encourage you to discuss it with your professor. Here is the direct passage from the University’s faculty handbook:
“To the extent possible, the schedule for examinations and the due dates for major course assignments should be set out in the course syllabus.
Final examinations must be given during the final examination period. Faculty legislation prohibits the early administration of final examinations. Because final examination week is considered to be a part of the regular term, to end the term prior to its scheduled date is to deprive students of faculty time to which they are entitled. Faculty legislation also controls the assignments that may be made during the last week of regular classes (“dead week”). This legislation states:
1) No examination worth more than 20 percent of the final grade, with the exception of make-up examinations, will be given.
2) No final examinations will be given under any guise.
3) No projects will be due unless they have been clearly specified on a syllabus distributed within the first two weeks of the term.
4) Take-home final examinations will be due no earlier than the day of the formally assigned final examination for the class.”
The rules of the faculty handbook were created to ensure that students are given fair and reasonable amounts of work, as well as ensure that we get what we pay for. If your professors are shorting you on the service of learning that you pay good money for, we encourage you to constructively approach them or their supervisor and try to find a solution.