Course Meeting Times
Traditionally, courses meet for three hours per week. Hour-long FAS courses are scheduled on the hour. One-and-one-half hour FAS courses are scheduled for 8:30-10 am, 10-11:30 am, or 11:30 am-1 pm, and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No course beginning before 1 pm should be longer than one hour on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday or longer than 1-1/2 hours on Tuesday or Thursday. Courses scheduled at non-compliant meeting times must be approved by the Registrar. Approved courses are required to meet in departmental space or in classrooms scheduled through offices other than the FAS Registrar.
Classes ordinarily begin five minutes after the announced meeting time, e.g., at 9:05 or 11:35. An instructor may refuse to permit students to enter the classroom after the class has begun. Instructors should end the course promptly at the announced meeting time, leaving the blackboards clear and the furniture properly configured. The five minutes allotted for transition is not reserved by either course. Instructors should exercise professional conduct when entering or vacating a classroom.
By Faculty vote, no class, committee or departmental meeting, tutorial, conference, examination, or other academic activity may normally be scheduled for the period set aside for regular Faculty meetings (Tuesdays, 4–5:30 pm). Exceptions to this rule may be granted only by the Registrar.
Holidays and Days Preceding and Following Holidays and Vacations
Classes should not be held on holidays or during vacations. By vote of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, instructors are expected to hold regular classes on the days preceding and following holidays and vacations. Students should not be excused from class on those days or allowed to transfer temporarily from one section to another to accommodate a longer holiday or vacation.
Courses Meeting Away from the University
Ordinarily, courses should be organized to meet only in their regularly-scheduled times, plus the additional times scheduled at the beginning of the term for sections and laboratories. In some cases, an instructor may wish to include a field trip or project that would take students away from the University on days when classes are normally held and, thereby, interfere with students’ ability to attend other courses. In such cases, permission to include activities that will take students away from the University must be obtained before the course may be listed in the catalog. Instructors must consult with the Office of Undergraduate Education about courses below the 200-or 2000-level and with the Dean of the Graduate School about courses at the 200- or 2000-level. Ordinarily, instructors should plan no more than one class day away from the University in any given week and never more than five class days during the term, or ten days total including weekends. In all cases, the students’ obligations to other courses meeting at their regularly-scheduled times must have priority over course requirements that take students away from the University. Instructors must announce at the beginning of a course any requirements that would take students away from the University so that students may consider these requirements when choosing their courses.
Reading Period
At the end of each term, a period of eight days prior to the start of final examinations is designated as the Reading Period. During this period faculty members may choose not to hold formal class meetings with students. Those who exercise this option often do so to allow students to work independently, exploring special topics or integrating the material covered in the course. Students often use this time to complete term papers that draw on the work of the term and to re-examine course material in order to integrate the various strands of a course in preparation for the final examination or other final exercise. Those courses that have approved exam substitutions should schedule these activities during the Reading Period, while being mindful of students’ obligations to other courses, some of which may continue to meet during Reading Period. All exam substitutions are due no later than the last day of Reading Period. Faculty legislation on Reading Period emphasizes the following: the suspension of lectures should involve no diminution in the total work required in courses; new reading assignments for this period may not be excessive; and, new material introduced through Reading Period assignments should cover special topics for investigation or further development rather than important parts of the course as a whole.
Many courses continue to meet on their regular schedules during much of the Reading Period. Even in these cases, most instructors suspend classes during the last two weekdays of the Reading Period to allow students a few days of uninterrupted preparation before the start of final examinations. It is generally expected that review sessions will take place during the Reading Period.
Instructors should specify their plans and expectations for the Reading Period on the course syllabus or during the early meetings of the term, so students may take this into account as they plan their work for the term.
The Reading Period is an integral part of the term whether or not a class meets during this time. Both instructors and students are expected to remain in the immediate vicinity of Cambridge throughout this period.
Examination Period
Following the Reading Period at each term’s end, there is an Examination Period. No course assignments, trips, or special events should be scheduled by instructors during the Examination Period. Like the Reading Period, the Examination Period is considered part of the term, and instructors as well as students are expected to be in residence throughout. At the end of the term, instructors are expected to submit grades for their course by the published deadline. See Final and Midyear Examinations.
