Academic Affairs Policy Manual

Section 3.01 Scheduling of Classes

3.01-1 Minimum Enrollment

University policy requires that departments provide a letter of justification and receive prior written authorization from the Office of the Vice President for Instruction to offer an undergraduate class section containing fewer than ten students or a graduate class section containing fewer than five students.  Colleges or departments that wish to establish higher minimum enrollment numbers for sections may do so.

Source: Vice President for Instruction

3.01-2  Scheduling Monday/Wednesday/Friday Classes

The class periods on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are divided into 50 minute segments. Classes scheduled on these days must be scheduled and taught in the periods designated for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes. Any exceptions must be approved by the department head, dean and the Office of the Vice President for Instruction in advance of their listing in OASIS. This includes any courses that are scheduled for 75 minutes on Monday and Friday.

The reason for this policy is that classes scheduled for 75-minute periods on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday prevents students taking these classes from enrolling in another class in the succeeding period. This practice also removes the classroom from scheduling for that period.

Source: Vice President for Instruction, 6/28/05

3.01-3 Prohibition of Scheduling Classes Without Classrooms

No class section should be made available to students at registration unless definite space has been secured for the section. Those responsible for scheduling classes for an instructional unit should be given the opportunity to move sections to other class periods when space is not available for a given period.

Implementation: It is the responsibility of the Registrar, the Campus Reservations Office, and the Office of the Vice President for Instruction to enforce this policy.

Effective Date : Spring 1990
Source : Vice President for Academic Affairs, January 22, 1990.

3.01-4 Inclement Weather: Decision to Close

In case of winter weather, the University is either open or closed for everyone–faculty, staff and students – as such weather-related closings are done in the interest of public safety.  Such decisions are not based on weather forecasts, but rather on developing conditions which may lead to icing on roadways.   By policy, the University makes one of three announcements:   – UGA is open and operating on a regular schedule; – UGA is closed; – UGA will delay opening until a specific time.   Please do not be confused if some media ad lib that “UGA has cancelled classes.”  Winter weather closing announcements apply to all faculty, staff and students except those personnel previously designated by their supervisor to report in case of inclement weather, such as in Public Safety, Physical Plant, Housing and Food Services.   Up-to-date information is delivered to Athens radio stations as follows: On the am dial: 960 and 1340. On the fm dial: 88.9, 90.5, 91.7, 97.9, 102.1, 103.7, and 106.1.   Information is posted on University Cable Channel 15, which also is carried on Clarke/Oconee Charter cable channel 15.  You may also get it from the UGA home page, www.uga.edu, and more detailed information on the UGA Today website, www.uga.edu/news . An all-campus e-mail is sent, although due to volume its delivery may not be immediate.   Winter weather in this area generally develops overnight, and every attempt is made to notify media by 6:30 a.m.   Athens radio stations are used primarily, because they can give priority to UGA announcements where Atlanta stations cannot.  Atlanta radio and TV stations which have requested to receive UGA closing announcements are also notified. If the weather develops during the work/school day, the same procedures above are used, as well as notice being made to the office of each vice president and dean.   You are urged to use the above means of learning this information. Please do not telephone the UGA police, other campus offices, or the news media.  During developing snow events, we have in the past experienced a slowing or complete failure of the telephone system because of volume.  The phone lines should be left open for priority messages.   Sometimes weather conditions are such that closings occur two or more days in a row.  In such cases, this procedure is followed for each day, with an announcement being made each morning by 6:30 a.m.  

Effective Date: November 11, 2002  
Source: UGA Public Affairs Office