The student-leader proposal to make the last two days of Dead Week more “dead” for ISU students took another step forward, as a university administrator voiced his support.

Government of the Student Body President Andy Tofilon and GSB Director of Academic Affairs T.J. Schneider met Tuesday afternoon with associate deans to discuss their proposal.

The pair have proposed the Thursday and Friday of Dead Week be set aside as “reading days,” during which no regular classes will meet. They said the proposal would allow students more time to prepare for final examinations.

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs Howard Shapiro has voiced his support for the proposal and said students would likely perform better on final exams if they were given extra days to study.

“I think it’s great students are taking this kind of an interest in their own academic affairs,” he said.

Faculty members he has spoken with recently have been supportive of the idea, but some concerns have been raised as well, Shapiro said.

“They think it’s a reasonable idea to have some additional reading days, but they’re concerned about taking it away from instructional days,” he said.

Schneider said he and Tofilon hope to make the associate deans aware of current problems with Dead Week and solutions to improve the academic climate at the end of the semester.

“Dead Week has eroded from what it used to be,” he said. “It used to be a time for study and review, but recently it’s been a time for early final exams, projects, new material and other stressful predicaments.”

Schneider said students’ academic performance can suffer because of high stress levels at the end of Dead Week.

“This proposal will help enhance the academic environment at Iowa State,” he said.

Schneider said he hopes the associate deans will take the proposal back to faculty within their colleges to discuss the idea and solicit opinions.

Shapiro said it will ultimately be up to the faculty and academic community to decide.

“We would hope that by the end of February we’ll have information from the deans to find out how to proceed with this,” he said.

The proposal would likely be optional this semester, with professors choosing whether to conduct classes the last two days of Dead Week, Schneider said.

“We don’t want to force professors to all of a sudden cut out a huge chunk of their course,” he said.

If the proposal is endorsed as university policy, there will be no classes the last two days of Dead Week in the fall.

The Government of the Student Body will meet today at 7 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union. The following will be discussed:

General Orders

A senate bill to amend the GSB Bylaws to reflect the name change of Hawthorn Court Community to Frederiksen Court Community. By Kothenbeutel and Marvin.

A senate bill to allocate $6,800 of GSB funds from the Special Projects Account for the remodeling the floor of the Memorial Union. By Darr, Weaver and others.

A senate bill to amend the GSB Bylaws to reflect the name change of People Understanding Disabilities to Alliance for Disability Awareness. By Kothenbeutel and Greiman.

A senate bill to restrict the amount of time the senate may debate after guest presenters finish a formal presentation. By Leege, Weaver and others.

New Business

A senate resolution to honor former president of the Board of Transit Agency Ann Campbell by naming a new building at the Iowa State Center Commuter Lot the Ann Campbell Transit Station. By Hillock and Rodeck.

A senate order to seat Megan Pearce as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. By Edgar and Leege.