I would like to provide some clarification about the closing of the Testing Center in the Office of Testing and Evaluation. The Test Center has been fully functional for two years. It was created because we saw a need to help serve students with testing accommodations and their faculty by proctoring exams.
In summer 2015, we learned that we would not be able to retain our half-time person who had worked in the center, and in fall 2015, we lost our full-time Test Center staff member to the first round of layoffs. Since that time, the Director had been running the Center with the help of occasional hired proctors for busy times like midterm and finals.

In FA15 17% of the faculty used the Center as proctors, and approximately 90 students took their exams there. With the latest layoffs, the remaining staff need to be trained to assume additional duties in order to maintain the primary functions of scanning tests and evaluations, so a decision was made to stop scheduling these tests. Although the tests that had been scheduled have been given and proctored as promised.

As your editorial stated Wednesday, students will still receive their accommodations from their faculty members as they did before the Test Center existed. The Office of Testing and Evaluation has created a Test Center that was helpful and well-run, and we hope to be able to provide these services in the future once Eastern receives funding from the state.

Karla Sanders, executive director for center of academic support and assessment