Effective Fall 2025, passing times between classes will be extended to 15 and 20 minutes, replacing the current 10 minute period. The plan also suggests opening more room in the course grid for precept and course times.
The Faculty Committee on Classrooms and Schedule brought forth the proposal at a faculty meeting held Monday, April 15. In a proposal memo dated April 3, Dean of the College Jill Dolan wrote that “our campus has grown large enough that many of our students and faculty require additional time to move between their classes.”
The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and representatives from the Office of the Dean of the College have been considering the extension for some time, initially motivated by the expansion of the University’s physical campus.
According to former USG Academics Committee Chair and current USG Vice President Srista Tripathi ’25, “as the campus continues to expand, it becomes more difficult for students to travel between classes, extracurriculars, and other activities within the allocated 10 minutes.”
The proposal explained that “around 70 percent of undergraduates have at least one back-to-back course enrollment each term,” including around 20 percent of students traveling from one end of campus to the other in the 10 minute time slot. These longer distances may include from the Friend Center to the Lewis Center for the Arts, or from McCosh Hall or East Pyne to Frick Laboratory.
Initially, the Faculty Committee on Classrooms and Schedule was considering implementing either 15 or 20 minute passing times, however the proposed scheduling grid contains both passing time options, depending on the length of the classes.
The time most affected by this change will be the morning. Currently, 50 minute classes can be scheduled to begin hourly from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., and 80 minute classes can begin at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. With the proposed extension of passing times, there will only be three morning slots for 50 minute classes, starting at 8:30 a.m., 9:35 a.m., and 10:40 a.m., giving a 15 minute passing period. 80 minute morning classes will begin at 9 a.m. and 10:40 a.m., giving a 20 minute passing period.
Evening class times will not be affected by the expanded passing times, because, as the proposal explains, “the Registrar’s data also suggest that very few courses are scheduled after the 7:30 p.m. slot.”
The proposed changes will maintain the “unconflicted midday class period” between 12:30 and 1:20 p.m., but move the period to 15 minutes earlier in the day. This class time is often used for language classes, which meet daily. Additionally, the proposed scheduling grid will preserve the 80 minute lunch window for faculty meetings and department events, and the daily “blackout period” between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.
The proposal also referenced the Campus Mobility Principles from Parking and Transportation Services, which suggest that campus pathways are “not simply walkways” and passing time “is not simply transit time.” According to the memo, pathways are “places for conversation and the exchange of ideas” and to engage with faculty and peers outside of formal class time.
Additionally, the proposed grid will reduce conflicts by inviting departments to “use the full range of each teaching time each day and week,” including the rescheduled 80 minute morning periods and the introduction of a standard three-hour class period on Friday mornings.
These changes to scheduling follow a number of other proposed alterations to the academic calendar. The University is launching a pilot program this semester that will allow students to take multiple final exams on the same day — a change that would only affect “about three percent of the current undergraduate student body,” Dolan wrote to The Daily Princetonian in February.
Additionally, the University is moving towards a staggered final assessment schedule to replace the single Dean’s Date deadline. The proposed staggered deadline “will alleviate the Dean’s Date pile-up because all end-of-term work, regardless of assignment type, will be spread across the final assessment period,” according to Cecily H. Swanson, the Associate Dean for Academic Advising.
USG Academics Committee Chair Vivian Bui ’26 told the ‘Prince’ that “many students have communicated concerns about the finals period, such as feeling overwhelmed with papers being due all on one day and not being able to go home for break earlier due to a long finals week.”
While the end of Dean’s Date has not yet been confirmed, the proposed change to passing times was endorsed by the faculty and the new grid will take effect in Fall 2025, “giving departments and administrative offices time to prepare and to shift course scheduling as necessary.”
Victoria Davies is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’
Julian Hartman-Sigall contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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