The following message was sent to the campus community by Provost Brian McGee on Oct. 11, 2016.

Dear students, faculty, and staff:

After several days of evacuation, dangerous weather, and recovery efforts, I am pleased to welcome students, faculty, and staff back to the College of Charleston.

As a result of our recent loss of class days, the College of Charleston now has a revised academic calendar for the 2016 Fall Semester. The revised calendar and the revised final examination schedule are posted at http://registrar.cofc.edu/calendars/index.php. The development of the revised calendar and the updated schedule included consultations with deans, department chairs, program directors, and elected student leaders.

Please carefully review these new schedules. You will see that some dates have not changed. The Thanksgiving holidays and Fall Break will be held as originally scheduled. The last day of the final examination period and the date for December commencement have not changed.

However, there are several important changes you should note:

  • The final examination schedule has been revised. The standard final examination periods have been shortened from three hours to two hours.  Allstudents will have a different final examination schedule than was previously the case.
  • A makeup final examination period has been added for Express I courses.
  • There are revised withdrawal, midterm grade, and registration deadlines and dates.
  • The final regularly scheduled date for course meetings is now Friday, December 9. Previously, the last day of classes was Monday, December 5.
  • Two makeup days have been scheduled for the weekend of December 3-4. December 3 will be treated as a regular Monday for purposes of class meetings.  December 4 will be treated as a regular Friday for purposes of class meetings.
  • There will no longer be a full “Reading Day” prior to final examinations. There will be reading periods for the mornings of Saturday, December 10, and Sunday, December 11.

We understand this revised calendar will pose challenges for many students in respecting religious obligations and managing work schedules. The more crowded end-of-semester academic calendar will also require students and faculty to manage their schedules very carefully.

While waiting for this revised calendar to be published, many members of our community wondered if we could or should eliminate Fall Break. Because state law requires the College to be closed on Election Day, we concluded that it would not be practical to open on Monday, close on Tuesday, and reopen on Wednesday. In addition, some people have asked if the College is required to make up for lost class time. The short answer to the question is that federal and other regulations necessitate that we schedule makeup days.

I thank all members of our community for their flexibility as we adjust to the new realities imposed by Hurricane Matthew. We look forward to seeing you back on campus.

Sincerely,

Brian

Dr. Brian McGee, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs