Seton Hill University (SHU) students can find salvation from hunger, lectures, and sleeplessness during the week from 4-6 p.m. because classes on campus are going to cease during these hours.
The boundaries of this designated time block are blurred by professors who decide to hold portions of their classes during these two precious hours.
By Stormy Knight,
News Editor
Seton Hill University (SHU) students can find salvation from hunger, lectures, and sleeplessness during the week from 4-6 p.m. because classes on campus are going to cease during these hours.
The boundaries of this designated time block are blurred by professors who decide to hold portions of their classes during these two precious hours.
Some professors make the decision to begin their night classes at 5 p.m. which cuts the little time students have to eat dinner, participate in clubs, and catch up on sleep in half.
Student athletes are especially affected by professors altering their class times due to the addition of daily practices and games into their regular schedule.
�Chris Snyder (head football coach) attended an exec board meeting to discuss the free time block. The issue for him is that some classes run over until 4:15 and so if he has practices at 4, half the team can’tbe there until 4:30,� said Amanda Gallagher, a junior, and Seton Hill Government Association (SHGA) vice president.
According to Gallagher, Snyder raised the issue that his team only practices as a whole for around 30 minutes at the most, due to classes running past 4 p.m. and those starting before 6 p.m.
Many student athletes depend on their sport scholarships to pay for their education, and are not able to devote appropriate time to their sport due to classes impeding this time block.
Sophomore football center Daniel Day had scheduling conflicts during the fall 2006 semester.
�We had practice on the weekdays from 4:00-6:00, but I had class on Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 to 4:15…on both of these days I would be roughly 25 minutes late to practice,� he said.
Day also had a night class at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays during the fall 2006 semester, which meant leaving practice early on those days as well as being late.
Scheduling conflicts do not only affect athletes on a personal level, they affect sports teams as a whole.
�Every day there would be players that would be either late to practice or have to rush off early. Either way as an athlete I know that we need that time during practice to have everyone there and devoted to be successful,� said Day.
Rushing from class to locker room and back again is counterproductive to students as athletes and scholars both. Players will inevitably miss portions of classes and/or practices- either way they are losing out.
One of the problems surrounding this issue is the number of times courses are available during the year. Many times students must schedule certain classes in a particular semester, no matter the day or time.
If athletes pass on the opportunity to enroll in classes for sports sake, they may potentially extend their time at SHU.
�There were a few classes I absolutely had to have for my major and there weren’tvery many time slots to choose from,� said Day.
�Professors are supposed to ask students first to make sure a team practice doesn’tconflict with the schedule…and most do. However, we think some students might be afraid to speak up if they are the only one with a problem in the class,� said Vanessa Kolberg, a junior and Student Senate secretary.
Kolberg, also Setonian Arts and Entertainment editor, said professors are supposed to alert the Registrar if they change the time they hold class, though most do not. She added that there has been some recent debate about whether this time block should change.
�There’s been talk of this for years — moving it to the morning, afternoon, a rotating schedule, and so on,� Kolberg said.
During a student forum on February 27, 2007, Barbara Hinkle, vice president for enrollment services and the registrar and the acting director of admissions, said that the current schedule has worked best for SHU.
Students are encouraged to communicate with professors and coaches in order to create a more flexible schedule. It is important that professors are aware if moving their scheduled class time interferes with practice time for athletes; it is the students� job to alert them.
Members of the SHU Student Senate are working to find a resolution to this issue. Until then, all students, not just athletes, will continue to search for a happy medium between classes and extra-curricular activities.
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