IU to observe Labor Day in 2008

Students will have Labor Day off in 2008, after the Bloomington Faculty Council voted Tuesday to pass a resolution to make it an official school holiday.\nIn 2008, Labor Day is scheduled as the first day of classes for the fall semester for the current academic calendar for IU-Bloomington.\nIt is because of this that Labor Day will be observed as a holiday, and at the meeting this proposal and resolution were passed with overall acceptance, said Kelly Kish, the Bloomington Faculty Council chief of staff. \nMore calendar changes were discussed at the meeting as well, especially pertaining to a potential fall break in the academic calendar.\nIn a vote of 23 to 22, the BFC passed a friendly amendment stating the BFC supports evaluating various calendar principles regarding equal number of days for the fall and spring semesters, along with holidays and breaks. \nThe proposal also allows for a request to the provost and his select administrators to meet to discuss a possible summer session calendar along with implementations for a new campus calendar. Then, in the fall, the provost will reconvene with the BFC to report on whether or not he has any suggestions or has come to a decision regarding the summer session calendar or any other calendar principles. Based on this report, the BFC will then consider amending calendar principles, such as breaks and holidays, based on the calendar schedules and suggestions the provost makes. \nKish said the final vote for the entire resolution passed in the end after much debate and discussion. Now the Bloomington academic calendar proposal is in the hands of the provost.\nInterim Provost and incoming president Michael McRobbie said at the meeting that it might be possible for the next provost to say that some of the proposals are not possible. \nKish said the BFC would like the provost to look at the calendar for any proposals, changes or solutions, and then bring it back in the fall to the BFC for further discussion.\nThe Labor Day holiday for students in the fall of 2008 is officially passed, and the Bloomington Faculty Council now looks to finalize the future IU academic calendar in regards to breaks and scheduling of classes.