Fall break proposed for IU in ’08

At a meeting Tuesday, the Bloomington Faculty Council discussed a proposal for an academic calendar year including a Labor Day holiday and a fall semester midterm recess.\nThis is the first time the council has brought this up for discussion since 1991, following a recommendation from the Council’s Calendar and Schedule Committee. Under this suggestion by BFC member William Wheeler, a midterm recess would mean the fall semester would begin a week earlier than under the current calendar. The proposed midterm recess would be inserted during the ninth week of the semester from Sunday until Tuesday, following the eighth week, during which most midterm exams are given.\nThanksgiving break and final exams would remain unchanged. The spring semester would remain the same.\nIf the proposal is approved, the first summer session would start one day earlier, but would be shortened by one day with class periods increasing by five minutes for three credit courses.\nThe second summer session would follow the same guidelines, but begin two days earlier and shorten two days as well. Both summer sessions would start during the usual weeks, and Memorial Day and July 4th would remain holidays as well.\nHowever, the break between the second summer session and the fall semester orientation and registration week would be reduced from nine to six days.\nBFC President Ted Miller said that the Bloomington campus does have calendar problems and, in the past, the calendar committee has proposed solutions to problems involving the asymmetric calendar, Labor Day and the fall break issue.\nA fall break would allow students and faculty to begin the second half of the semester refreshed, and students may feel less encouraged to leave early for Thanksgiving, Wheeler said during his presentation. \nBut with the addition of days off in the calendar, Intensive Freshman Seminars would have to begin a week earlier, and faculty and students with summer commitments, such as theater and music festivals, would be later returning to campus than under the current calendar, Wheeler said.\nMiller said that more time will be spent discussing the calendar issue and possible solutions to make progress, and the issue will be continued again at the next BFC meeting on March 20.\nThe earliest any changes could be implemented would be Fall 2008.\nIn addition, the BFC discussed the Domestic Partner Benefits Program, which was briefly mentioned during the last board of trustees meeting March 2.\nThe Indiana General Assembly is proposing an amendment to the state Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. In addition, it states that neither the Constitution or other state law should be interpreted to “require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”\nThe BFC supports the continued provision of benefits to domestic partners of IU employees as directed by the board of trustees’ policy set Sept. 14, 2001. \nIn addition, the BFC expressed “confidence” that these benefits will continue to be voluntarily provided by IU regardless of the outcome of the state amendment.\nA unanimous vote was passed to forward to the trustees. \nAt the meeting, discussion circulated regarding research appointments and representation for non-tenure track faculty as well. \nIn addition, the BFC made a statement enthusiastically welcoming incoming President Michael McRobbie, mentioning that they are looking forward to working with him in the future.