The Committee on Academic Operations met on February 5th to discuss an issue that sometimes concerns students: How much freedom of class scheduling does a professor have? Many students also do not have the proper information on who they can approach if they feel they are being treated unfairly by a professor.
During C term of 1998, an incident concerning a professor's decision to hold an exam on an institutional "No Class" day was brought to the attention of the CAO. The student felt that this should not be a required class time for a mandatory exam because "WPI policy is that mandatory class hours are scheduled." According to members of the CAO, other extra class sessions "should not be scheduled unless all students could be accommodated." In other words, if a professor attempts to schedule another class session in addition to that which WPI policy allots, s/he has to accommodate all of the students in the class before s/he can add additional class time. One member of the committee pointed out, however, that there may be exceptions to this rule for one-time instances where a professor needs to schedule additional class time.
Members of the committee also indicated that there is a specific course of action through which students can voice concerns such as this. If a student feels pressured or treated unfairly by a professor in a case similar to the one described above, s/he should report it to the Office of the Provost.