Provost Marty Krauss announced in a Nov. 10 e-mail to the Brandeis community that she has accepted the recommendations of the Block Scheduling Committee to change the current block schedule and that the changes will be implemented in fall 2011.According to the block scheduling proposal that was presented at the Nov. 4 faculty meeting and was included in Krauss' e-mail, changes under the new schedule include replacing Tuesday/Friday afternoon blocks with Tuesday/Thursday afternoon blocks, creating two new class blocks on Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday mornings and ensuring that classes start on the hour or half hour. In an interview with the Justice, Krauss said that she approved the proposal in its entirety.

The Block Scheduling Committee was formed in spring 2008, and the committee released its original report in February 2009, according to Krauss' e-mail. Deliberations among the faculty "revealed substantial differences of opinions" regarding the proposals of the Block Scheduling Committee report, Krauss wrote in her e-mail.

Krauss wrote in the campus-wide e-mail that discussions about the report were tabled during the economic crisis but that since the issue has been revisited, the committee has been working to revise its proposals. Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Malcolm Watson, chair of the Block Scheduling Committee, and University Registrar Mark Hewitt presented a proposal which was approved by the Faculty Senate at its Nov. 4 meeting, according to the e-mail.

During her interview, Krauss said that "one benefit [of the new block schedule] is that it spreads out the use of classrooms . more effectively across the whole spectrum of the week." Krauss said that by not holding classes on Thursday afternoons, the University was not using an important portion of the week and was allowing classrooms to sit empty. With the increasing number of students at Brandeis, it is important to utilize classroom space efficiently, said Krauss.

She added that faculty had also expressed the desire for more twice-a-week blocks, and the new plan "is responsive to that."

"There are always challenges in implementing new procedures," Krauss said, "but I am confident that [Hewitt] and his staff will be anticipating some of those challenges and will be addressing them."

Talya Kahan '12 said of changing the start times of classes, "I think that they [the changes] are really good. ... for once, maybe people will get to class on time and be able to leave on time."

Liz Watson '12 said, "I think that [the new schedule] makes the classes too compact [by having classes on Wednesday and Thursday instead of having Thursday 'off.']