LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Before Wednesday's shooting, students, staff, and faculty were getting ready for finals week next week.
Friday the university made a final decision on how they will proceed.
Emily Rubalcava, sophomore: As I was hiding I was wondering how is this going to proceed are we still going to force us to do finals are they going to force us to come back to school to do finals.
The short answer is no.
Joleen Jones, senior: They did make it official this morning that finals are canceled and it is optional unless you’re in one of the medical schools.
In a statement to students, UNLV says they are providing flexibility for faculty and instructors as well as students.
Students will end their semester based on their completed work before the December 6 shooting.
While others can opt for online finals exams or take home projects before December 18.
After final grades are posted, students will have an opportunity to opt-in to ’S/U’ grading between December 22 and January 1.
For many students we spoke to Friday the concern over final grades were real.
Emily Rubalcava, sophomore: I've worked so hard in my classes I don’t want it to be ruined with some freak with a gun.
Meanwhile for students Joleen Jones and Summer Mclean, the concern over finals isn’t top of mind— instead it’s concern over their teachers who too were impacted by Wednesday's shooting.
Summer Mclean, sophomore: We were in a class when we got the news and our professor Dr. Ariel Santos was incredible at evacuating, another professor ran back inside to evacuate more students it was incredibly heroic.
Summer Mclean, sophomore UNLV for us a big part of the event was that our professors who reached out to us and who we reached out to us to know we were safe and there was a strong professor student communication there.
Commencement will proceed as scheduled — on December 19 from 12pm-5pm for undergrads and December 20 at 4 p.m. for masters and doctoral degrees.
