The University of Minnesota will soon end the trend of piling classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and instead offer classes more evenly throughout the week. Starting in fall 2012, the University will cap the number of classes departments can offer on Tuesdays and Thursdays and remove other restrictions to allow more classes between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. The new policy will also introduce 75-minute lectures on a combination of Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

This new policy can only help students. Currently, the cap on classes between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. pushes many classes to the afternoon when it becomes hard to find classrooms for them.

Many departments also tend to schedule most of their classes for Tuesday and Thursday. While this may be convenient for professors, it is not so for students. Sometimes, two classes a student needs for his or her major are offered at overlapping times. With this new policy, this is less likely to happen and students will be better able to graduate on time.

The one gripe students may have with the policy is that more classes might meet on Fridays. But it is better for a student to be able to take a Friday class he or she needs to graduate than not to be able to take it at all. Students will not be forced to take more Friday classes, but more will be available for those who need them. And if students canâÄôt buck up and go to a class on Friday, they should reconsider whether they should be in college in the first place.

Opening up the schedule will help students graduate on time by offering them more flexibility and choice and reducing conflicts between courses. We fully support scheduling classes evenly throughout the week.