Committee seeks input on proposed academic calendar


Doyle

Walsh

An ad hoc committee commissioned by the dean of the university faculty is seeking feedback from the Cornell community on its proposed changes to the academic calendar. The committee hopes to submit its recommendations to the Faculty Senate for a possible vote by the end of this semester.

"We're very open to suggestions. We want this process to be -- as it has been all along -- very transparent," said Jeff Doyle, professor of plant biology, who chairs and leads the Academic Calendar Committee along with vice-chair Kate Walsh, the Fred G. Peelen Professor of Global Hospitality Strategy.

The committee has disseminated the proposal to the campus assemblies and deans; senior staff has seen the calendar and expressed its approval. The proposed calendar is available at http://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/calendarcommittee/calendar_main.html. To submit input, email committee members via the website.

The committee's goals for the new calendar are to provide optimal educational opportunities and "address concerns about student stress and mental health related to prolonged periods of instruction without multiday breaks," Doyle said.

The proposed calendar would:

  • balance the days of instruction between the fall (to 68, from 67.5) and spring (to 69, from 70) semesters;
  • make the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving a full day off instead of its current half day of instruction;
  • break up the long periods of instruction during the spring semester by inserting a two-day break at President's Day and by centering spring break between it and the end of classes;
  • lengthen spring break by two days;
  • condense study and exam periods, holding two exam periods over the weekend and inserting a study day in the middle of the exam period; and
  • compress Senior Week into three Senior Days. However, Registrar Cassie Dembosky said it is possible to create a final exam schedule that will minimize the number of seniors who have exams during the last two days of the exam period -- in effect preserving the traditional week off.

Student Assembly President Natalie Raps '12, a committee member, said she is happy with the proposed calendar, especially keeping the senior week tradition alive. And the proposed calendar provides "more opportunities for students to take a 'mental health' break and take some time off from the rigors of our academic life," she said.

Modifying the academic calendar is easier said than done, said Doyle. "Everything has to hinge on everything else. You pull on one thing and everything moves," he said. However, Thanksgiving and Labor Day are fixed points in the fall calendar. In the spring, the date of Commencement shapes the calendar, and much of the first year of deliberations involved exploring calendars in which Commencement was held before Memorial Day weekend. Ultimately, it became clear that the traditional Commencement date should be retained due to logistics and weather; this allowed the committee to construct the remainder of the spring calendar. "Without that, we were careening all over the place," Doyle said.

The committee was formed in fall 2010 by Dean of the University Faculty William Fry, as part of the university's response to a cluster of six student suicides that took place during the 2009-10 academic year. The 12-person committee includes representatives from the senior administration, faculty, students and staff. Fry asked them to evaluate the current calendar to consider whether changes to the calendar could help alleviate student stress, and to recommend changes, were any warranted.

After reviewing any forthcoming feedback on the proposed calendar, and assuming there are no major complaints, the committee will ask the Faculty Senate to vote on the proposed calendar. If the senate approves the calendar, Provost Kent Fuchs and President David Skorton would decide whether to accept it. The implementation schedule is not yet determined.

Media Contact

Claudia Wheatley