Early this semester, Kevin Richman was registered for a psychology class he wasn't sure he wanted to take.

Like many students, he was forced to decide whether he wanted to keep the class only a few days into the semester.

"I had no clue how difficult the class was," Richman (sophomore-international politics) said. "I didn't want to use up my late drop credits, so I stuck with it, even though I did badly on a test."

Realizing students have experienced these problems, the Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly voted Monday to create and distribute a survey to evaluate the current drop/add period, which lasts 10 days.

Liberal Arts Sen. Nicole Belolan, academic research and action committee chair, said the survey would consist of about 13 questions.

Questions will include whether or not students are happy with the current period, if they would like a day added, if they have had experience with classes not meeting before the period and a "free-response" section for additional comments.

Cynthia Helzner (junior-microbiology) said she thought a survey to evaluate students' opinions would be helpful.

She added that she did not see the downside of adding a few extra days to the drop/add period.

"This semester, I had a lab that only met once before the period ended," Helzner said. "I didn't have enough time to decide if it was a class that I wanted to keep taking."

Belolan said she has worked with the English department to find an efficient way to distribute the survey, but no decision has been made regarding how they will be given out.

"If we do distribute the survey to English 202 classes at all campuses, and we get 100 percent participation, we'll have about 3,400 responses," Belolan said.

She said if the English department does not allow the surveys to be taken with the Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness surveys in English 202 (Effective Writing) classes, the committee will investigate alternative distribution options.

Assembly President Mark Levin said he hopes any alterations made to the drop/add period would reflect students' opinions.

"We haven't decided if we want to necessarily extend the period, but we need to make the drop/add period fit the students' needs," he said.

Carolyn Ransford (graduate-human development and family studies) said she would like the drop/add period to be extended to two weeks.

"It was particularly bad this year because the first day of classes was a Friday schedule, and I didn't have a Monday class until much later," she said. "I had to make a hasty decision about my class."

Ransford said the short drop/add period also interfered with her book returns. "They need to extend the period by a week so I have enough time to return textbooks, since the bookstore's return policy coincides with the drop/add period," she said.

However, Kyle Quigley (junior-film) said the current drop/add period gives students enough time to evaluate their classes.

"I think two or three classes is enough time to determine if the class is good enough to stick with," he said.

Lynda Goldstein, chair of the University Faculty Senate admissions, records, scheduling and student aid committee, was informed of the students' concerns with the drop/add period, and she requested "quantitative evidence" to support it.

Belolan decided a survey would be the best way to show the students' opinions. She said once the surveys are given out and collected, the academic and action committee will review the results and make recommendations or suggestions to the Faculty Senate.