As University of Wisconsin-Madison employees begin work all over campus to prepare for President Barack Obama’s visit Thursday, professors and students are finding ways to continue academic business as usual.
Due to the president’s visit, all buildings located on Bascom Hill will be closed Thursday, and several other surrounding buildings will have restricted access, disrupting many classes.
Jon Pevehouse, professor of political science, decided to reschedule his exam planned for Thursday to the following week out of concern that the rally would disrupt the exam.
“I have been on campus during these rallies before and everything gets so fundamentally disrupted for several hours on either side of it,” Pevehouse said, “so I just decided that in terms of a test-taking environment it would be much healthier to have it [next week].”
Physics 104 Professor Sridhara Dasu decided to move the location of his exam, which was originally scheduled to take place in Bascom Hall. However, Dasu is still holding the exam at the previously scheduled time of 5:45 p.m. on Thursday.
“I think that most students are conscious of the fact that life goes on whether President Obama visits or not, so they’re expecting [to take the test],” Dasu said. “We just moved farther out on campus so that we won’t be immediately affected by the crowds and all of that.”
Dasu also said he thinks students will appreciate him not moving the exam time because they have been planning to take his exam at the scheduled time since the beginning of the semester, and an alternate time may not work for everyone.
UW-Madison sophomore Lauren Krupp, who plans on attending the rally, said she was “thankful” her ILS 201 professors rescheduled her test, which was originally scheduled for Thursday.
“It’s not just a random speaker coming to Madison. It’s not even just a president, but it’s a sitting president currently in office,” Krupp said. “I think that experience of getting to see [Obama] speaking live is something that many people don’t have an opportunity to see.”
The university sent an email Tuesday, which said all building closures are subject to change and asks students to be patient as more details emerge.
