Dartmouth Schedules Saturday Classes During 15F

Classes scheduled for this upcoming 2015 fall term will all have a Saturday class meeting. The schedule change comes as a result of the start date of fall term classes being pushed two days – from September 14th to September 16th – to accommodate the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah, a typically two day celebration which also often precludes doing work. To make up for those two pushed back days, two Saturday classes will be held on September 26th and October 24th.

A morning view of Dartmouth Hall – a scene many students will get to see while marching to a Saturday class during 15F.

Classes scheduled during the 9, 10A, 2A, 3A, and 3B time slots will meet between 8AM and 3:05PM on September 26th; classes scheduled during the 10, 11, 12, and 2 time slots will meet between 8AM and 12:50PM on October 24th. Interestingly, most of the start times for these Saturday class times will be before their normal class start times during the workweek. Classes during the 10, 11, 12, and 2 time slots typically run from 10AM to 2:50PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; all four of those classes’ start times will be pulled back two hours during their Saturday make up slots.

In an email exchange with The Daily Dartmouth, the College’s Director of Media Relations, Diana Lawrence, reported that the decision to push back the starting date for 2015 classes – and thereby mandate Saturday classes – was ultimately made by the Committee on Instruction, which is comprised of the Dean of the Faculty and an assortment of administrators, faculty members, and students.

It is worthwhile noting that this is not the first time in recent history that the College has scheduled Saturday classes. This past summer term of 2014, students enrolled in classes on campus were also subject to a “special day of classes” on the Saturday of June 21st. Again, as it will be in the fall, the start times for those Saturday classes were pulled back two hours, meaning that classes on the 10, 11, 12, and 2 time slots each met for about an hour and fifteen minutes from 8AM-12:50PM, as opposed to 10AM to 2:50PM.

Only time will tell if such Saturday and early morning classes are just a temporary annoyance for current students, or if it is a harbinger of future life at the College.