Last semester the week before finals — thousands of students braved the crowd at the University Testing Center creating over an hour-long wait for those in the line that extended to the Rose Garden.

This semester, that will not happen.

The University Testing Center is on an operational pause during the spring semester.

“At the request of the president, and in consultation with the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate and the Academic Affairs Leadership team, the University Test Center will not be in operation as a test center during the spring 2016 semester,” the testing services portion of the Fresno State website reads.

The week before finals, there were projected to be between 3,800 and 4,400 students utilizing the University Testing Center Monday to Wednesday. Although the testing center had adjusted policies to make the traffic during finals week flow faster, they failed to see the approximate 150 spaces in the testing center could not keep up the massive influx of students during the three day period, said Dr. Frank Lamas, vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.

“It was working pretty well until all these people showed up and the line was all the way back down to the fountain and some people even said to the Rose Garden,” Lamas said. “I think it was a combination of things. For whatever reason there were a lot of faculty who wanted to give the test that day.”

VJ Mirzayan, an endodontic who came back to school to master in sports psychology, stood in line for nearly two hours to take his final exam.

“It is very difficult for somebody to stand in line for hours and then you are tired, your brain is not in normal conditions and you have to go take the test,” Mirzayan said. “That’s ridiculous. I was aggravated, agitated, tired and pissed. I did not want to be there.”

The wait was not the only negative aspect about the experience that stuck out to Mirzayan. After waiting outside the testing center, the line proceeded to a narrow hallway where the line wrapped along both walls.

“There’s no walking room and there is no windows. This is against fire code,” he said. “You just feel constricted. It feels horrible to get in line for that long. Under those conditions — and then go in there and expect to take a test? To me it is not a very student friendly environment.”

Lamas said he thought it was strange that such a high number of students had to take tests before finals week, seeing as there are policies faculty have to follow regarding administering finals before finals week.

“It doesn’t seem like a midterm,” said Lamas. “Could it have been a final? I don’t know. Could have been their third or fourth test. I don’t know? All I can say is it seemed a little bit funny to me that — that many students were there at that time.”

According to the Academic Personnel Manual (APM, 339), final examinations or final class meetings are required in all courses and shall be held at the time and place identifies in the schedule of the courses. No final examination may be scheduled prior to the time specified in the schedule of courses. ­­

Once the university administrators were made aware of the situation, a discussion was held with the cabinet and the Academic Senate, where it was decided the testing center would be put on pause and no longer administer midterm or finals.

“The last thing we wanted was a student to go to take a test, which is already a nerve wracking thing, you want to be at your best. You don’t want to be stressed out more than you already are. You don’t want to wait in line and hour or an hour and a half to take your test,” Lamas said. “Student success is the number one thing that I and the president are always talking about how we want to help you to be more successful and quite frankly that wasn’t helping.”

During this semester the University Testing Center will not be used, but the Academic Testing Center, in the Family and Food Science Building, will still be administering students make-up exams, early takes, exams for Students with Disabilities, campus department-specific exams, professional Certification and licensing exams, educational assessment and placement exams, distance learning exam proctoring and exams for online courses, said Rita Bocchinfuso-Cohen, director of Testing Services.

The main difference this semester is professors cannot send their classes to take whole class assigned exams in the testing center.

Due to the operational pause, 13 student assistants, whose jobs could have been jeopardized by the change, were assured their jobs would be retained through the spring semester, Lamas said. Six of those students students decided to continue working in the testing offices, two took positions in other offices on campus, one declined and four did not respond to our inquiry.

A small committee of faculty, staff and students will be established this semester to discuss the future of the University Test Center.