LSA Student Government held its weekly meeting Wednesday evening in Mason Hall to discuss final examination policy and making Election Day a potential academic holiday.
LSA SG passed a resolution 28 to 0 in favor of supporting better enforcement by the University of Michigan ensuring faculty members abide by the final examination slot they are assigned to by the Office of the Registrar.
President Nicholas Fadanelli and Vice President Ryan Gillcrist, LSA seniors, and LSA junior Hanna Simmons, sponsored the resolution and discussed their concerns that many faculty members hold their final examinations during the last day of classes rather than their allotted time slot, potentially threatening student rights to alternate examination times.
They also recommended policies be changed to allow students to request alternate exam times when they have more than two exams in one day, instead of the current policy of more than three per day.
“This is not only University policy that final examinations be held in the scheduled spot, but it’s also compiled in the LSA Faculty Code, the governing document of the college of LSA … I think the fact that they’re violating the document that they approve (themselves), that in any other circumstance they hold high above their heads when it comes to us doing anything to them that they might not fly by it … that doesn’t fly well with me,” Fadanelli said.
Fadanelli also gave an update on Richard Spencer’s request to speak at the University. Spencer is a noted white supremacist who the University confirmed requested to speak but neither approved nor denied his request.
“At this time, although I have not heard anything official, if I were to take a wild guess the University will most likely approve him speaking, as in let him have a space … whether or not there will be a counter-event sponsored by the University or an accommodation of the event while also still allowing it, I am not aware of at this time,” Fadanelli said.
The group also passed a resolution 27 to 1 regarding an amendment to the 18th chapter of its bylaws for better flexibility for its election policies, as well as making amendments to its ballot questions for its upcoming elections on Nov. 20 and 21.
The government also welcomed a speaker on behalf of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, LSA senior Nora Akcasu. Akcasu discussed SAPAC’s influence on campus and its relationship with LSA SG.
During its committee reports, LSA sophomore Lorraine Furtado, chair of the Diversity Affairs Committee, mentioned wanting her committee not to focus on race alone but all factors of diversity on campus.
“Diversity is not only about race. There are other facets to it,” Furtado said.
While a resolution on the matter was not proposed, the LSA SG also discussed potentially making Election Day an academic holiday. Central Student Government also passed a resolution on this matter in the previous semester.