Currently, the Main Library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to midnight on Sunday.

Microbiology junior Emily Storrer said many students reserve Sundays for studying and need a quiet place before the afternoon. ASMSU has requested 24-hour library service before but has been denied, she said.

“Sundays people want to get started early,” Storrer said. “I’ve noticed the same thing with the IM Centers not opening until noon. It’s hard getting your day started Sunday.”

The committee’s proposal would change the library’s hours from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday, committee chairman Evan Martinak said.

The committee also is working to tackle the issue of syllabus ambiguity.

Storrer said she’s noticed some professors who don’t give a clear explanation of their grading curves or grading style.

James DeMates, director of ASMSU’s department of student defenders, said grade disputes are the most common reason students visit his office. In his four years with the department, he’s heard at least 200 different grade dispute cases, he said.

“Many professors change the syllabus during the semester … and sometimes they change it in very inappropriate ways,” Demates said.

Although slight syllabus changes are allowed out of necessity for the course, DeMates said he has seen some extreme cases. In one instance, a professor decided to forego a midterm and instead required his students to test a video game.

“He wouldn’t make an exception for my client who had epilepsy,” he said. “The flashing lights would have caused a seizure.”

ASMSU also hopes to tighten the university’s attendance policy, said Academic Assembly internal vice chairman Zach Taylor.

Currently, professors are solely responsible for determining attendance policies without any mandates by the university, Taylor said. The university’s general attendance policy only is about a paragraph long, he said.

“People write Facebook comments on people’s walls that are longer than this,” Taylor said, referencing the policy.

Although most professors are reasonable, a small percentage do not grant excuses to students who attend a funeral, for example, he said.

DeMates said he has clients every year that have failed classes because of a professor’s attendance policy.

“It can affect their lives quite drastically — getting a 0.0 in a class for choosing to attend the funeral of a friend or family,” DeMates said.
During the meeting, Taylor also proposed adding the Campus Interfaith Council as a member of the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students groups.