Seventy-nine percent of professors, of those who were scheduled to have a special Saturday class, elected not to hold class on Saturday, Sept. 26, according to an anonymous survey of faculty conducted by The Dartmouth. Eighty-four percent indicated that they do not intend to hold class Saturday, Oct. 24.
These two Saturdays are special days of classes scheduled by the College’s Committee on Instruction to make up for the late start to fall term caused by Rosh Hashanah. The survey, which garnered 162 responses, illustrates a tepid support among faculty for the special days of classes.
Of the professors surveyed who will not teach on Saturday, 59 percent will hold an extra x-hour to make up the lost time, but 23 percent will not hold an extra class and 18 percent already use all x-hours.
Of the 129 professors who indicated their departments, the number of science, technology, mathematics and engineering professors who held class and the number of non-STEM professors who had class were roughly equal, with 11 professors in the sciences and 14 non-STEM using the Saturday timeslot.
The film and media studies and art history departments were the only ones in which more respondents reported hosting at least one Saturday class than not having class — in film, all respondents held class, while in art history three held at least one class and one did not. Of the eight respondents in the math department, equal numbers held class and did not. In the remaining 36 departments represented in the respondent pool more professors chose not to hold classes than to hold class.
Many professors commented in the survey that x-hours were more convenient for both themselves and students, and others noted that family obligations constrained their ability to hold class. A number mentioned the difficulty of finding childcare in the area, for example.
“It can be extra-challenging on the weekends,” biology professor Amy Gladfelter said in an interview.
Others said that Saturday should be spent with families.
“I am expecting low attendance by my students, and I don’t want to give up time with my own children on the weekend,” one professor commented in the survey.
Four professors cited religious reasons, including Sabbath and Shabbat, for why they were not holding Saturday classes.
Many professors also wrote that teaching on a Saturday conflicted with busy schedules.“I need the weekend to catch up with work,” one professor wrote.
“Ain’t nobody got time for that,” wrote another.
On the other hand, government professor Linda Fowler, who did use the Saturday timeslot, said in an interview that she did not begrudge teaching on Saturday.
Still, she noted that the College provided insufficient information about the change in schedule.
“Most of the staff did not know of the changes to the schedule until the summer,” she said.
In the survey, one professor corroborated Fowler’s opinion.
“I wasn’t consulted about the decision to hold classes on Saturdays, and I find the given reasons for holding them disingenuous,” the professor wrote.
Some professors provided particularly cheeky responses. Holding Saturday classes constituted “cruel and unusual punishment,” one wrote, while another responded “Saturday? Seriously?”
In a survey comment, one professor in the French and Italian studies department noted that the department decided against the Saturday courses altogether.
Student response to holding classes on Saturdays was similarly varied. Some said that making up for the Monday and Tuesday classes lost with classes on Saturdays is not a productive solution. Rather, Ian Kennedy ’16 said that professors can adjust or “streamline” the course schedule slightly to make up for a shorter schedule without courses on Saturday.
Mikey Richards ’18 agreed with Kennedy, noting that professors can use x-hours to make up for lost time. Students, Richards said, are too tired to learn effectively on the weekends — not to mention that people may choose to party the Friday evening before courses on Saturday.
On the other hand, Jack Kinney ’19 said that the Saturday classes could be productive, noting that his high school had Saturday courses each week.
Callum Backstrom ’18 also said that the utility of Saturday classes depends on the course material, noting that the courses which already use all x-hours may need an extra class.
This is the first time that the College has adjusted its schedule to accommodate a religious holiday.
