The provost’s office has good news for students. Classes won’t begin at 7:30 a.m. anymore starting in the spring semester of 2006.

In order to improve space management on campus, the University of Kansas will reschedule class times to eliminate 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. classes.

The new class times are being implemented to make more effective use of classroom space.

Tuesday and Thursday lecture classes will also decrease five minutes per day. Currently, the total amount of class time per week, for Tuesday and Thursday classes is 160 minutes. With the new schedule, the total week class time will be reduced to 150 minutes for Tuesday and Thursday classes, which is the same as the total week class time for Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes.

All lecture classes will be 75 minutes each, Don Steeples, vice provost, said.

The five minute decrease will give students more time between classes on Tuesday and Thursday.

Under the new schedule, start times for Tuesday and Thursday classes will not be affected.

The extra half hour of sleep would not be necessary for Justin Soloman. The Dallas senior said he was a morning person and liked to get class over with.

“I would rather not have a 7:30 a.m. class, but if I don’t have a choice, then it is okay with me,” he said.

Steeples conducted a study by looking at class utilization information from a report by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.

Research revealed that classrooms were not used during the noon hour.

As a result, the University is offering two-day a week classes on Monday and Wednesday, Monday and Friday, and Wednesday and Friday during times that classrooms are not being used.

The implementation of new class times will allow a set schedule of classes. Currently, classes and their times have to be approved, said Kim O’Bryon, public service administrator.

“We think it is a popular option to only have class two days a week,” Steeples said. “The fact that we have some extra classroom space gave us the additional option, but we don’t know how popular it is until after enrollment.”

The new schedule allows for unique classes, such as within the School of Education where public school teachers and administrators are involved in class programs.

Classes that start too early or run too late are poorly utilized, said Mike Neal, dean of the School of Education. He said it was more logical to start and end classes at times that made them more desirable.

“Instead of a building being less utilized at 8 a.m because students don’t take a 7:30 a.m. class, the building will be utilized at 8 a.m. because students will be taking 8 a.m. classes,” Neal said.

Faculty and administrators are in the process of working out a faculty schedule for the spring 2006 semester.

Steeples said the only problems he expected were from faculty members who were resistant to change.

“It is difficult to try something new,” Neal said. “But I think it will be a good deal.”