One highlight of many seniors’ final quarter at Ohio State University is knowing that they will be attending classes for only nine weeks – one week less than the rest of the student body.

But starting with the current quarter, early senior finals will be a thing of the past as graduation, which was traditionally held on Friday, now being held on Sunday.

The change was the result of numerous requests by students, faculty and staff to alter the graduation process.

“Students wanted graduation on a day other than a weekday so that family members could more easily travel to see the ceremony,” said Martha Garland, vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies.

“Faculty have, for years, hated the senior finals that were given during the tenth week of the quarter because they were concerned that one-tenth of the quarter was being taken away from students and, as a result, they were losing valuable learning time,” Garland said.

“The only way the faculty had time to grade finals before Friday’s graduation, though, was to have the seniors take their exams before everyone else and consequently lose that last week of each quarter,” she said.

The opinions of both sides were frequently voiced by two of the University Senate’s committees over the past few years.

The Council on Academic Affairs passed two resolutions requesting the termination of senior finals. In addition, the Council on Student Affairs passed three resolutions stating that students wanted to have graduation on the weekend in order to accommodate family members and friends of graduates who travel long distances to see the ceremony.

No vote was required to push graduation to Sunday. Instead, the university Council on Enrollment and Student Progress – an organization comprised mainly of faculty – made the decision .

Once Enrollment and Student Progress agreed to make the change, the process began, but the matter was more difficult than simply moving the day.

The key to eliminating senior finals was figuring out a way to continue to provide graduates with live diplomas.

“Live diplomas are something which this university prides itself,” Garland said. “It means that when each graduate walks across the stage on graduation day, he or she gets their actual diploma. This is different from many other schools.”

“Constantly improving technology made the elimination of senior finals possible because it allows us to get everything done much more quickly,” she said. “Thus, we could have seniors take their finals at the same time as the rest of the students and still provide them with live diplomas.”

Student sentiments have been mixed, said Mike Goodman, president of Undergraduate Student Government.

“Graduation is a time for family and celebration,”he said. “Now that more family members are able to travel to the ceremony, it can be a full family experience.”

One concern which has surfaced is that the change will be too expensive for an already financially-strapped university.

There will be new costs, but they will not be additional costs – it will be more of a “cost shift,” Garland said.

Traffic and Parking will have to pay overtime to the employees who work on Sunday. According to Garland, the university already had to pay overtime to employees who worked on Friday because they had to work past 5 p.m. in order to get graduates, families and friends through Friday afternoon traffic.

Carol Ries, director of the Office of Commencement and Special Events, said autumn’s ceremony is expected to last between two and three hours. Close to 1,900 students are expected to graduate, which makes it the second largest ceremony at OSU.

“Winter graduation is the smallest with roughly 1,500 graduating last winter,” Ries said. “Spring is the largest – almost 6,700 walked last spring.”

Autumn 2003 graduation will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 14 in St. John Arena. Seating will be general admission, and there is no admittance charge.