Vote for fall break delayed

A proposal to create a fall semester break is currently on hold in the Calendar and Scheduling committee due to a tie in voting, student representative Dietrich Willke said. \nWillke, a long-time proponent of the fall-semester break has campaigned that a fall semester break is needed because the fall semester has no break. This results in "students using the week before Thanksgiving to catch up on school work." \nA fall semester break would provide a solid seven days off -- nine days (including the weekend) versus the four days of the \ncurrent Thanksgiving break, Willke said. \nWillke also said, should the bill be presented to the Bloomington Faculty Council, it is expected to pass with an overwhelming majority. This is because the Dean's advisory council has endorsed the bill. The law and medical schools currently have a fall semester break. \nStudents are overwhelmingly in support of a fall semester break.\nThe proposal for a fall break envisages the fall semester starting a week earlier. Labor Day would be a holiday -- as opposed to it currently being an instructional day -- and there would be a week off during Thanksgiving. Willke added this proposed change mirrors the schedule of Purdue University and other schools that have a fall semester break.\nDietrich notes "(IU is) among the few schools that have classes on Labor Day."\nPresident of the BFC, Professor David Daleke, concurs. \n"A major concern amongst the faculty is that we actually have to teach on Labor Day. It's an instructional day and in many schools it's not."\nHe added the issue is a very complex one. \n"There's been a lot of resistance from instructional units that have laboratory courses that meet one or two times a week." \nHe said a week with less than five working days would throw laboratory schedules out of sync. \n"It would require a major rearrangement of our schedules," Daleke said.\nThe bill is currently unable to make it out of the committee because of a tied vote of 5-5 with the chairperson, Professor Gerald Pugh, abstaining. \nThe bill proposing a fall semester break also mandated starting the fall semester a week earlier and declaring Labor Day a holiday. \nIt was for this reason Calendar and Scheduling committee member Professor David Dzubay voted against the proposal, he said in an e-mail interview. \n"The proposal to start a week earlier and take a late fall break would cause many more problems than it solves," Pugh said.\nA similar proposal was presented to the BFC in 2002, but it was not voted on.\nAs a last resort, Willke suggests the BFC should "adopt the bill even though it hasn't passed through the committee and vote upon it." \n-- Contact staff writer Daraius Dubash at ddubash@indiana.edu.