The Board of Trustees discussed the possibility of offering more courses on Fridays and Saturdays instead of the current largely four-day class schedules.

During the meeting Thursday, members of the board weighed the benefits and disadvantages of the possible scheduling expansion.

“It’s very important that whatever we do, that we don’t harm our students’ success rate,” said

Trustee Craig Nielsen.

The idea was first presented to the board during the public forum. It was not originally on the agenda, though this didn’t stop a lively discussion amongst the board.

Student Trustee Nicholas Steil said that he preferred the concept of classes spread out through the week.

“I know that for other student though, they like to get in and get out,” Steil said.

He added that he would like the opportunity to discuss these possible changes with the Associated Student Government to gather response from the student body.

The college currently follows a compressed semester cycle, which means courses are spread out in longer sessions during a shorter amount of time. The changes were implemented around 15 years ago during a student success evaluation.

With the expanded schedule, the school would be more available to students struggling to find time for classes several days of the week. However, City College has already been dealing with a list of community complaints regarding student life in the neighborhoods around campus.

In response, the college created the Neighborhood Task Force together with board members and local residents.

One of the items on the task force’s agenda is noise reduction, a problem some blame on the “Thursday night effect.” Many students attend class Monday through Thursday, causing their weekends to start a day earlier.

Academic Senate President Kim Monda said that the English department offers some classes exclusively on Fridays, though these courses have a low attendance rate.

“It’s not part of the culture to be in school all day Friday anymore,” Monda stated.

Superintendent-President Lori Gaskin clarified the fact that the college will not move away from the current academic block scheduling. The school will continue with a compressed calendar, but administration is looking into the possibility of spreading out classes during the rest of the week.

“That’s our mission, how do we create an environment where student learn best?” said Trustee Dr. Peter Haslund.

The next scheduled Board of Trustees meeting is 4 p.m., Thursday, April 9, in the Administration Building Room 218C.