Many universities across the United States cancel classes the week before final exams, often called “dead week”. During this week, no new material is covered, class is canceled, and students have extra time to study and prepare for their upcoming tests. Tarleton State University currently only allows students one “dead day” to study, which many students have expressed as unfair. A Change.Org petition, started two months ago, asks the administration to consider implementing a dead week at Tarleton. This petition so far has gained over 290 signatures and has gotten the attention of school officials and the Student Government Association. Dr. Laura Boren, Vice President of Student Life, says that the administration is aware of this petition and says “many factors [go] into establishing the academic calendar, [these factors] range from required hours to class time for accreditation purposes to balancing not starting too early in August and ending too early in December. The university calendar committee [is] exploring options to integrate more time for final test preparation.” The Student Government Association has also begun discussion about how a dead week could be integrated into the fall semester schedule. Several students have voiced their opinions online. Tarleton sophomore Jordan Palmer commented on the petition’s website, “Final exams are meant to be challenging. However, often projects before exams are just as equally challenging and hinder adequate study time that should be set aside to focus on finals. A true dead week would help prevent procrastination and lead to students actually retaining the information rather than cramming for final exams.” How Tarleton plans to implement these scheduling changes has yet to be determined, but some possible solutions expressed are: starting school earlier, altering the dates of holidays, changing the dates of final exams, or delaying the beginning of winter break.