After a month into the new schedule change, faculty, staff and students have varying feelings on how the change has affected them.
The schedule change came after Laynie Barrilleaux, vice president for academic affairs, discovered there were inconsistencies with the times classes were offered.
“When I was looking at the schedules that were coming out of faculty, I found there was a lot of conflict for afternoon classes because faculty were wanting to extend time periods, which caused a few classes to run into each other,” Barrilleaux said.
As Barrilleaux examined the schedules and ways to improve consistency, there was also talk of trying to save the University money, but the recent change was not implemented to save money.
“The change is intended to standardize class times so students are not inconvenienced with overlapping time schedules,” Barrilleaux said.  “We are trying to adapt to student needs as much as we can.”
The change included extending the times of classes from 4M to 7M to 80 minutes rather than 55 minutes, and only offering them on Mondays and Wednesdays. The class schedules ultimately end up with class times from 1M to 4M being the only periods offered on Fridays.
With classes extended to 80 minutes, some department heads are not hearing much information about whether the change is favorable or not.
“I have not really noticed that the schedule change has done any harm.  No one has come to me and stated any concerns for the difference in schedule in the same way; no one has come to me and said ‘I love it’ either,” Bridgett Scott, department head and assistant professor of Dietetics, said. “I think people are quietly adjusting to it, and it seems to be going well. No news is good news.”
Barrilleaux is anxious to see what students think about the change.
Some students like the option to have Fridays off, while others wish there were no classes on Fridays.  Some do not see any changes in their schedule.
“I like the 80-minute classes, but I miss having shorter class times on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,” Katie Dufrene, accounting senior from Raceland, said. “I hate that I have to drive on Friday for one class. Either have no Friday class or keep the regular 55-minute classes for all Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes.”
Matt Arnold, marketing junior from Houma, said he likes having no class on Friday because it gives him more time to study and do other work.
Alex Maye, marketing junior from Morgan City, has not experienced a change in his schedule.
Although Barrilleaux faced some resistance from Faculty senate in the beginning, the change seems to be going smoothly.
“This is one of those mantras where no news is good news,” Barrilleaux said. “I really deal with management by exception.  When there are issues out there, you have to address them, but really I have not had any. I am really not hearing any complaints about it at all.”
Barrilleaux said she received positive feedback about the change from a Student Government Association officer who said he heard good things about the schedule change and that students were pleased with it.  
Although the idea of going to a four-day work week received a great deal of resistance, she said some people continue to ask about not having class on Fridays.
“My answer to that is, I am not touching that,” Barrilleaux said. “We have a lot of labs on Friday because biology and chemistry have a hard time fitting labs in. We still need Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes because I do not think there is enough classroom space available not to.”
With the new schedule change, the number of Monday, Wednesday classes has tripled, and the number of Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes was cut in half, Barrilleaux said.
In fall 2012, there were 300 Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes out of 1,432 classes and only 51 Monday and Wednesday classes. This semester there are only 141 Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes and 153 Monday and Wednesday classes.
With the change in effect for a month, Barrilleaux is happy with it.
“The schedule change will remain in effect for the fall 2013 semester, and no changes will be made as of now,” Barrilleaux said.