IUSA proposal gives students 1st fall break

For the first time in the more than two years since IU Student Association started putting together a proposal for a fall break, students will reap the benefits.

The new fall break, no classes on Labor Day and a week-long Thanksgiving recess are the result of a proposal presented to the Bloomington Faculty Council in 2010.

Although more breaks have been implemented, Tom Gieryn, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, said in a press release that those without Friday classes are not affected by the new break.

Junior Travis Brown is upset by the way the break was scheduled.

“IUSA proposed the fall break as a Monday and Tuesday so everyone has a break,” he said. “Most students I know don’t have Friday classes, which means we don’t have a fall break.”

Padraic Kenney, a history professor, told the BFC last year that only 12.5 percent of classes are taught on Fridays.

Gieryn reported that last fall, 33 percent of undergraduates did not have a single Friday class.

Although some students will not benefit from the new fall break, a week-long Thanksgiving will affect the entire campus — which IUSA considers an accomplishment, according to a press release.

“I really can’t complain,” Brown said. “It’s awesome these students fought for us to have more breaks built into the semester. Thanksgiving is when classes start getting tough, and that week will be a breath of fresh air.”

Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith also sees the benefits.

“For me, it’s really about the rhythm of the year,” Goldsmith said at the BFC meeting when the proposal was first announced. “It’s a very, very long run to go from August to November. We think that for everybody’s mental health, it might be useful to have those couple of days off.”

Gieryn said honoring Labor Day would make IU’s calendar more in sync.

The downside to the fall and Thanksgiving breaks, he said, would be they would set in motion many changes to routine procedures and practices throughout the campus.

Those changes include financial aid deadlines and Bursar and Registrar official dates.

But BFC  passed the changes, and they have taken effect this year.

“The longer recess at Thanksgiving will make it easier for students to get home for the holidays, and the fall break provides a breather during the long run from August through November,” Gieryn said. “Most important, the new calendar does not reduce the amount of instructional contact time during the full semester, but actually increases it slightly.”