Breaking down Fall Break

While the newly created fall break initiated by Student Government Board will occur on a… While the newly created fall break initiated by Student Government Board will occur on a Monday, students will actually miss the classes scheduled for that Tuesday.

No classes will meet on Monday, October 13, but all Monday classes scheduled for that day will meet the next day, Tuesday, October 14, instead. All classes scheduled for that Tuesday are canceled, a memo from the Office of the University Registrar said.

“The shifting of Monday classes to Tuesday and the canceling of Tuesday classes during the week of fall break may be confusing at first,” the memo said. “However, the experience at other institutions seems to be that this works as long as everyone is well informed of the changes.”

In past years, Tuesday classes have met 15 times throughout the fall semester, while there were 14 class days for all other weekdays, thanks to Labor Day and Thanksgiving Break, which is always a Wednesday through Sunday furlough.

Programs not following the academic calendar – including professional degree programs – are not affected by the break.

All University buildings will remain open, and University staff does not receive a day off of work, with the exception of those who do not normally work on Mondays.

SGB president Sumter Link said he was happy to see the break take effect in time for the fall.

“The calendar was so fixed already, there was very little flexibility with it. I’m very pleased with the provost office and the calendar committee to work around the limited flexibility,” he said.

Link said he would like to see the break extended to a four-day weekend in the future.