From the Faculty Handbook:
Regular written examinations are required at the end of each term in all courses numbered below 200, except those whose nature makes written examination unnecessary. Exceptions must have advance approval of the Provost.

For courses numbered 200 and above, final examinations, which may or may not be written, may be given at the option of the course instructor.

A final examination schedule is announced each semester, and no examination (except for laboratory sections) may be held at any time other than specified.

No instructor shall give a quiz or assign a paper that is not part of the equivalent of a current daily recitation within one week (five class days) preceding the final examination period.

NOTE (added 21 Dec 98 by JMC): There is an informal statement that has appeared in the online undergraduate bulletin that faculty should not give any graded assignment during the last five days of classes unless the syllabus clearly states that such an assignment will be given. This statement is part of an informal, advisory document that is neither department nor University policy, but quoted out of context it sounds like one. No policies are violated by giving graded work in the last week of classes, whether or not the possibility of such an assignment is mentioned in the syllabus.

From a Memo from the Office of the Provost:
By faculty action, all courses numbered 1 through 199 are required to have final examinations unless exempted by departments, schools, or divisions. Individual requests for exemptions must be submitted to your Dean not later than six weeks before the scheduled date of the final examination.

The final examination schedule is published in the Course Schedule booklet distributed by the Registrar's Office. You may not change an examination date or time, undergraduate or graduate, without explicit prior written approval of the provost. Such requests must be made no later than November 1 of the Fall semester and April 1 of the Spring semester, but are not normally granted because the examination schedule is published well in advance. Do not encourage students to believe that they will be granted earlier examination times.

A take-home examination may substitute for all or part of the traditional in-class examination if it is due on the date of the scheduled final examination. Permission to substitute a take-home final examination must be secured from your Dean.

Final examinations for a full course should ordinarily cover two hours; they should not exceed three hours.

When students are unable, for reasons clearly beyond their control, to take a final examination at the scheduled time, they can be excused only by the Student Health Service or their academic dean.

Course instructors are to be present for final examinations and remain in residence until course grades are submitted.

Please submit course grades to the Registrar's Office within 72 hours of the completion of an examination and keep your course records for at least one year. If you leave the University, please give your course records to your department chair and provide an address at which you can be reached if questions should arise.

Please announce course requirements to students at the beginning of the semester and distribute them as part of every course syllabus. Students should not be given unexpectedly late assignments during the final month of a semester, especially if the assignments involve lengthy research papers or large amounts of new reading.