The registrar announced President Charles Lee’s approval of a mid-semester break for upcoming fall term.
The revised break is scheduled for Oct. 18 and Oct.19, which fall on a Monday and Tuesday.
Lee said the extended Thanksgiving break disconnected students from their classwork prior to finals, and that partially contributed to the adjustment.
“We decided to keep the Wednesday before Thanksgiving since students would travel that day regardless, and move the other two days to an earlier point in the fall when they wouldn’t impact finals,” Lee said.
Lee said it seemed students who had term projects due toward the end of the semester stood at a disadvantage.
Student Association President Josh Blades said he received an overwhelmingly negative response from this year’s break, which was the week before finals. Blades said students felt a pile-up of classwork prior to exams and professors also expressed disapproval.
“Students saw the break as a relief from school. We thought an earlier break would serve that purpose better,” Blades said. “We are exploring our options. We want to see which will work better.”
The Senate reviewed options for Fall Break, taking into account concerns expressed by faculty and students. Blades said the Senate passed a resolution that opted for a more mid-semester break.
Blades said he sent his resolution to Ruth Prescott, the vice president for Academic Affairs.
Prescott said: “We took the resolution to the Associate Dean’s Council and asked them to sped time soliciting input from faculty on last year’s dates. We felt we needed to get some date before making a decision.”
The council made recommendations to the Dean’s Council based on those results and the student body’s desire to have a more traditional fall break, she said.
“We didn’t want to have a negative impact. We were trying to be respectful of having impact of labs that meet once a week … so we were trying to balance all those considerations,” Prescott said.
She added that besides academic impacts, the council considered next season’s football schedule. The dates chosen fall on a weekend with neither a home or away football game.
“We want to give the students an opportunity to have a Fall Break, but we want to have a minimal impact on our ability to fulfill our academic mission,” Prescott said.
Blades added that the coming break may be the last shot at a Fall Break for students.
“Keep in mind this fall break is just a trial period. Two years is all they’ll allow us,” Blades said. “After two years, we may not be allowed a break.”
Even with a time-cap, however, Prescott said consideration of a Fall Break would not end if the next break fails.
“Fundamentally we are committed to providing the students with a Fall Break,” Prescott said.