Reading days have been, and will continue to be, two of the most important days on the academic calendar. Many things must be considered when deciding how to schedule these days. The issue concerns student performance more intensely than some believe, and reading days should never simply be two variables thrust into an equation. This is important because professors often use the last day of class as the due date for papers, projects and other assignments. If a reading day is scheduled before the last day of class, instead of studying for exams, many students will find themselves working on final projects.
Most courses have cumulative final exams.
Using a Saturday as a reading day does nothing but delete one day of possible preparation time. But since not all students had an exam on the first Saturday, this justification is not enough. When C.D. Spangler, former UNC-system president, proposed the longer semester, he did not mandate that more academic days must fit within the confines of previous semester schedules. Some days have a generally-fixed formula. Through the years, the last day to drop or add classes has not varied much.