To the Editor:
As a member of USM Faculty Senate, I wish to express my thanks to students AJ Chalifour, Marie Follaytfar and Alex Bresler for effectively representing the interests of students at our December meeting.
Their comments on a pending proposal to weaken the ban on exams during the week before finals week were cogent, diplomatic, and carried the day. This was especially significant because the position of Student Senate on this proposal had been misrepresented by faculty during discussion at the November Faculty Senate meeting, and it was poised to pass.
Timely intervention by these three students led to defeat of this proposal by a resounding vote of Faculty Senate.
There is more. During consideration of the academic calendars for the next three years, the same students proposed a Democracy Day holiday from classes on the date of the November general elections, to encourage students to vote and participate in the elections.
Did they know that a holiday on election day is one proposal currently discussed in the scholarly literature of political science about elections? Who knows or cares? Faculty Senate approved their proposal for Democracy Day.
USM students are fortunate to be represented by such diligent and persuasive members of Student Government.
Sincerely,
Michael S. Hamilton
Professor of Political Science