GM Week is arguably the best time of the year to be an RPI student. Every day this week are many events and activities for students to take some time away from their workload and have some fun. It’s a good chance to regain a little sanity before taking the last plunge into the end of the semester and finals. This year, just like every year, the provost’s office sent out a memo to all faculty asking them to lower the workload during this week, in order to give students an opportunity to experience the events that this week has to offer. Unfortunately, it seems more and more professors are ignoring this directive.
While GM Week is not as large a campus celebration as it used to be—possibly because workloads have continued to increase—it still plays an important role in campus life. Many Union clubs, fraternities, sororities, varsity sports teams, and other groups plan special events for this week, and a number of students are either running for office or managing the election. This leads to many students having a drastically increased extracurricular load in addition to their normal schoolwork. Maintaining both their clubs’ activities and the coursework requires a balance between the two, and if classes increase or maintain the amount of work for this week, then the other is bound to suffer. Professors are given 15 weeks to teach their material and give tests and projects, while GM Week is just one week out of the year; classes should give way.
Sometimes professors respond to students’ complaints over exams during GM Week by saying that there is not a rule barring exams during the week. This is true—there is no official rule against it—but perhaps it is time that the provost step up his efforts from issuing recommendations to requiring professors to lower the workload. It could mean more difficult weeks before and after GM Week, and less independence on the part of the faculty, but many students would applaud the change.
We’re not asking for absolutely no homework during GM Week; that would be unreasonable. When a student has three tests or four projects due during the week when the school says he or she should be enjoying all the fun there is to have around campus, it cancels out the entire point of the week. If the major assignments can be moved away from this time of year, a great number of students will benefit.
