With the way the last week of classes and final exams week flow into one another these days – exams given during the last week of classes, projects and papers due during exam week – it’s hard to imagine a hard line between classes and exams. But back in the 1970s, the schedule was much more stringent. The last day of classes would be held on a Friday, and final exams would then begin immediately, the day after. Yes, on a Saturday, apparently!

In spring of 1977, the student body, tired and overwhelmed with the idea of once again beginning exams with such immediacy, petitioned administration for two “Reading Days” – free days between the last day of classes and the beginning of finals . Students argued that they needed time to prepare, study, and rest before final exams began. Administration, however, was hesitant, citing both accreditation worries for extending the academic year, and the potential misuse of the free days by the students.

Administration agreed to a trial semester in spring of 1977 –

The standards committee voted in favor of the reading days proposal, on an experimental basis. This means that if students use the days to party, and any type of destruction results, then the reading days experiment will end in failure.

It can be assumed the students were studious, because two reading days were officially entered into the academic calendar for the fall 1977 semester, and are still on the calendar today, although are now referred to as study days.

We are still a little unclear about finals beginning on Saturdays, so while we dig through the archives for some old academic calendars, if there are any readers out there who graduated in the 1970s or earlier, please let us know what your final exam schedule looked like!

Use your study days well this weekend, and good luck with your exams!