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Dr. Sheryl Tynes
Photo by Nancy Li
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Mark Lewis, a professor in the Computer Science department, has seen these problems starting from many students’ first year. Some young freshman, seeing that they spend only 15 hours per week in class, decide to sign up for multiple organizations. Many of them later see extracurricular activities and academic commitments clash.
By the time they realized that they didn’t have a lot of free time, they would end up being in a bad position “because they over committed their time,” says Lewis.
“Being involved in too many things is a problem at Trinity because students usually have very heavy workloads,” says Joy Lazarus, a junior art and communication major.
Apparently, the phenomenon has been going on for a while. Seven years ago, a group of Trinity students, including drama students and student athletes, came to Sheryl Tynes, sociology professor and the soon-to-be Trinity’s Vice President for Student Life, and spoke to her about how there was no free time within their academic schedules for extracurricular activities.
Tynes understood their concerns. “I was hearing from Trinity faculty about students nearly passing out in evening labs because they didn’t have enough time to grab something and eat,” she says.” You all are busy and getting involved in lots of things besides school.”
The university has since implemented a voluntary activity-friendly schedule, in which departments were encouraged not to schedule classes between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. from Tuesday to Thursday. However, that is nearly impossible for some departments because doing so would cut some upper division seminars short.
Brenna Hill, the president of SGA and a junior urban studies and sociology double major, is one of the students in favor of activity-friendly scheduling. “From a student perspective, it would really help with scheduling organization meetings,” she says. “I know a lot of the athletes are behind it because it would be a common time for them to schedule practice.”
Hill does not just see the activity blocks as open times for student organizations to meet, but also for students to take a break. “This could also be a chill time when students would know that there are no classes going on on campus.”
Dean of Students David Tuttle also supports an activity-friendly scheduling. “I think there’s so much happening on campus that it’s very reasonable to block out times where people can meet up.”
But he also encourages student organizations to coordinate better among themselves to avoid scheduling conflicts, allowing students to attend multiple events and meetings.
Aaron Delwiche, a professor in the Department of Communication, believes that activity-friendly scheduling is necessary to carry out Trinity University’s promise to students: “a landscape where they can be more than one thing.”
Having scheduled activity blocks would ensure a time for extracurricular activities and the rest for academics. “If we honestly believe [what we promise] and we are making a commitment to our students, we need to make it possible for them to do both things,” Delwiche says.
However, Delwiche says exceptions should be allowed. “Say you have a city councilman who wants to teach a class at Trinity. There are times when that activity block period maybe the only time when a professor can have class,” he says. “In that case, I think it’s important to have some flexibility in the system.”
Not all the faculty and students are in favor of activity-friendly scheduling. Mallory Mazzarella, a senior English major and art minor says activity-friendly scheduling would make it difficult for her to schedule her classes. “Many upper-division, special topics, and one-credit classes already choose afternoons or evenings to avoid conflict with other classes, and these are especially common on Thursdays and Tuesdays.”
She also has concerns about organizations having time conflicts among themselves. “If there are specific time slots reserved for activities, then all activities will be scheduled for roughly the same time, causing more scheduling conflicts between organizations,” she adds.
Paula Hertel, professor in the Department of Psychology, expressed her concern about activity blocks conflicting with science labs, a crucial component for many science majors. She says, “The labs can’t be moved up. It would be a scheduling nightmare for the sciences.”
Similar concerns for lab scheduling is shared by Lewis, the computer science professor, but he also says that the activity-friendly scheduling could work if it would allow some exceptions. “Because labs are a very continuous block of time, it’s very hard to put them earlier in the day,” he says. “If you try to schedule a lab from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., who would take that lab?”
Dean Tuttle, however, believes that the activity block should be for activities, not academic classes. “I think we have to approach activity-friendly scheduling first, asking, is this best for our mission? Is this best for our students? How do we make this happen instead of starting from saying, ‘we can’t do that’ and working our way back?”
There are also people who don’t think that activity-friendly scheduling can be a solution to students’ over-involvement. “I think some students have the tendency to become involved in too many things, but that’s a part of the learning process of college, and most students learn their lesson after a few semesters,” says Mazzarella, the English major.
Tynes does not think activity-friendly scheduling would completely curb the issue either, but believes the new form of scheduling can help students enrich and value their experiences. “To me, part of creating space for different things is to say, ‘Here is time for it.’ Time is most precious resource that any of us have in some ways,” she says.
By the time they realized that they didn’t have a lot of free time, they would end up being in a bad position “because they over committed their time,” says Lewis.
“Being involved in too many things is a problem at Trinity because students usually have very heavy workloads,” says Joy Lazarus, a junior art and communication major.
Apparently, the phenomenon has been going on for a while. Seven years ago, a group of Trinity students, including drama students and student athletes, came to Sheryl Tynes, sociology professor and the soon-to-be Trinity’s Vice President for Student Life, and spoke to her about how there was no free time within their academic schedules for extracurricular activities.
Tynes understood their concerns. “I was hearing from Trinity faculty about students nearly passing out in evening labs because they didn’t have enough time to grab something and eat,” she says.” You all are busy and getting involved in lots of things besides school.”
The university has since implemented a voluntary activity-friendly schedule, in which departments were encouraged not to schedule classes between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. from Tuesday to Thursday. However, that is nearly impossible for some departments because doing so would cut some upper division seminars short.
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| Proposed activity blocks |
After implementing this voluntary activity-friendly schedule, Tynes heard from students from the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Athletic Advisory Council who wanted to make the voluntary activity-friendly schedule mandatory.
Unlike other small private liberal art colleges, Trinity University does not have mandatory time chunks designated for student organizations to meet. Other colleges such as Austin College, Southwestern University, and Pomona College have such time blocks when no classes are scheduled.
Hill does not just see the activity blocks as open times for student organizations to meet, but also for students to take a break. “This could also be a chill time when students would know that there are no classes going on on campus.”
Dean of Students David Tuttle also supports an activity-friendly scheduling. “I think there’s so much happening on campus that it’s very reasonable to block out times where people can meet up.”
But he also encourages student organizations to coordinate better among themselves to avoid scheduling conflicts, allowing students to attend multiple events and meetings.
Aaron Delwiche, a professor in the Department of Communication, believes that activity-friendly scheduling is necessary to carry out Trinity University’s promise to students: “a landscape where they can be more than one thing.”
Having scheduled activity blocks would ensure a time for extracurricular activities and the rest for academics. “If we honestly believe [what we promise] and we are making a commitment to our students, we need to make it possible for them to do both things,” Delwiche says.
However, Delwiche says exceptions should be allowed. “Say you have a city councilman who wants to teach a class at Trinity. There are times when that activity block period maybe the only time when a professor can have class,” he says. “In that case, I think it’s important to have some flexibility in the system.”
Not all the faculty and students are in favor of activity-friendly scheduling. Mallory Mazzarella, a senior English major and art minor says activity-friendly scheduling would make it difficult for her to schedule her classes. “Many upper-division, special topics, and one-credit classes already choose afternoons or evenings to avoid conflict with other classes, and these are especially common on Thursdays and Tuesdays.”
She also has concerns about organizations having time conflicts among themselves. “If there are specific time slots reserved for activities, then all activities will be scheduled for roughly the same time, causing more scheduling conflicts between organizations,” she adds.
Paula Hertel, professor in the Department of Psychology, expressed her concern about activity blocks conflicting with science labs, a crucial component for many science majors. She says, “The labs can’t be moved up. It would be a scheduling nightmare for the sciences.”
Similar concerns for lab scheduling is shared by Lewis, the computer science professor, but he also says that the activity-friendly scheduling could work if it would allow some exceptions. “Because labs are a very continuous block of time, it’s very hard to put them earlier in the day,” he says. “If you try to schedule a lab from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., who would take that lab?”
Dean Tuttle, however, believes that the activity block should be for activities, not academic classes. “I think we have to approach activity-friendly scheduling first, asking, is this best for our mission? Is this best for our students? How do we make this happen instead of starting from saying, ‘we can’t do that’ and working our way back?”
There are also people who don’t think that activity-friendly scheduling can be a solution to students’ over-involvement. “I think some students have the tendency to become involved in too many things, but that’s a part of the learning process of college, and most students learn their lesson after a few semesters,” says Mazzarella, the English major.
Tynes does not think activity-friendly scheduling would completely curb the issue either, but believes the new form of scheduling can help students enrich and value their experiences. “To me, part of creating space for different things is to say, ‘Here is time for it.’ Time is most precious resource that any of us have in some ways,” she says.
For now, the university is still contemplating whether or not to have mandatory activity blocks.
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