Association Chair writes reading week petition

The Students’ Association Chair, Emmanuel Michelakakis, has started an online petition asking the university to bring back Reading Week. At the very least he hopes that by it, measures will be taken to alleviate our collective suffering without a mid-semester break.

According to Michelakakis, the petition seeks to “illustrate the extent of student dissatisfaction with the way semester change has affected them to the Students Representative Council, and also to make resolving the problems raised a priority.” So far, around 452 students have signed the online petition, the listed goal being 750.

He stresses that going back to last years’ system of exams following winter break would not be ideal, as he says “I want to emphasise that my ultimate long-term goal is the restoration of Reading Week in some form. While returning exams to after Christmas would be impractical and, for many of us at least, unpopular, it’s really important the University makes allowances for the lack of a Reading Week in the short-term and is pressured to bring it back in the long-term.”

Michelakakis goes on to say that “measures for the short-run could include University pressure on departments to space out deadlines and especially preventing practices such as having assessment scheduled for revision week.’”

Amanda Litherland, Director of Representation, has been active in university talks to restore Reading Week, even personally taking the issue to Proctor Lorna Milne. “A campus-wide consultation on possible solutions to the problems raised” is being planned, said Litherland, but “given the logistical constraints involved in semester scheduling it is incredibly unlikely that reinstating a university-wide reading week will be possible for next year. That being said, it may well be possible to bring back Reading Week in the longer-term as well as taking other measures to deal with the consequences of the lack of a reading week.”

Online petitions such as this will soon become more common, as the SRC has announced that for the first time, students can submit petitions to the Association Chair at em533. Any petition with over 25 signatures will be brought to the attention of the SRC.

To sign the petition, click here. Disagree? Check this out and see where your opinion falls.

Image courtesy of rohantime.com