Faculty senate members will discuss today whether to kick ahead the first day of classes by one week.

The proposal will be a major focus of the faculty senate meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. in the Clara Sperling Sky Room of the Holmes Student Center.

FS President Norman Magden said the modification could move the opening day of classes from the last week of August to the first week of September, beginning with the fall semester of 1993.

Through the proposal, the last day of classes and semester exams also would move ahead by one week.

The proposal is being advocated by Eddie Williams, vice president of Finance and Planning and head of the Energy Conservation Committee, Magden said.

Magden said the proposal probably will be sent to a senate committee in order to be reviewed and adjusted before it heads to the University Council Steering Committee for approval.

The proposal then must pass through another UC committee before it can be discussed by UC members, he said.

Magden said the topic would not be reviewed in time to be brought up during the UC’s September meeting.

The last substantial change to NIU’s academic calender, in regard to the beginning of classes, was made in 1973.

The adjustment brought the first day of fall semester classes back by several weeks in order to create a “unified semester calendar.”

Its purpose was to clump together the Christmas and semester breaks and remove the two-week Christmas vacation buffer which laid between classes immediately before final examinations.

Also on the FS meeting agenda, members will discuss whether to temporarily suspend merit evaluations in a given year.