New calendar includes extended Thanksgiving break, shorter summer

The Bloomington Faculty Council passed a resolution Tuesday, first addressed by the IU Student Association, to approve a new academic calendar that will include several major changes.

Starting in fall of 2012, students will not attend class on Labor Day, during one Friday in the seventh or eighth week of classes or during the week of Thanksgiving.

Fall break will not take place, however, during Halloween weekend. Final dates have yet to be set.

To compensate for these missed days, fall semester classes will begin on a Monday one week earlier than on the current calendar. The summer session will consist of three four-week modules, reducing the summer session from 14 to 12 weeks and requiring some summer classes to be restructured.

According to the proposal, “this longer hiatus will allow greater opportunities to perform maintenance on instructional facilities, and is sufficient for the many activities scheduled for the weeks just prior to the fall  semester.”

However, some faculty members during the meeting expressed concern that a shorter session would negatively affect research and academic travel opportunities.

Thomas Gieryn, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, said the proposal was a compromise between all parties involved.

“There is no proposal that could satisfy all constituents,” Gieryn said.

Gieryn said he helped develop the calendar proposal, along with the BFC calendar committee and members of IUSA. Gieryn said the calendar committee worked to consider the opinions of a wide range of faculty.

IUSA Chief of Fall Break and junior Katie Tetrick spoke during the meeting in favor of the proposal. Both Tetrick and IUSA President Michael Coleman worked with the BFC’s calendar committee to develop the proposal during the summer.

Tetrick said she wanted to emphasize that instead of using the fall break Friday to sleep in, the weekend could become a service opportunity for students.

“Many students might see this day as a chance to get involved on campus or within the greater Bloomington community,” Tetrick said.

Tetrick also pointed out the break from classes could help decrease student stress by breaking up the traditional 13 week block of classes.

After the bill was passed — with five dissenting votes — Coleman said he was pleased with the BFC’s decision.

“I’m overwhelmed with the amount of people who supported it,” Coleman said.
Gieryn said he also supported the decision.

“I think the proposed calendar allows us to teach more effectively and for students to learn more effectively,” he said.

During the council meeting, members also heard a presentation from the Ad hoc Subcommittee on IU’s Health Engagement Program Initiative, a program beginning
in 2011.

Another presentation was also made by the General Education Committee Co-chairs and professors Sonya Stephens and Munirpallam Venkataramanan.