Students wonder: where’s fall break?

Fall break did not occur this year at Georgia College & State University because of changes in the academic calendar by university officials.

Many students were concerned when they found out that fall break had been omitted.

“I feel like not having a break in the middle of the semester doesn’t give me any time to relax and de-stress,” Summer Bozeman said. “I would rather have a few days off in October than get out early for Christmas.”

The two-year academic calendar is planned by a subcommittee of the University Senate of Academic Affairs Committee. Recommendations are made by the University Senate Academic Governance Committee for calendar events.

“The reason for not having a fall break is that people preferred to have a fall semester that started later and ended reasonably early,” Dr. Anne Gormly, vice president of Academic affairs, said. “The Board of Regents sets limits on when classes can begin and end so it was a challenge to get everyone covered.”

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents Web site lists long-term academic calendars through 2014. These calendars provide the earliest dates for classes to begin and the latest dates classes can end. The dates do not include final exam schedules. The calendars do, however, include three holidays: Labor Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Thanksgiving holidays.

The 2004-2005 academic school year set by the Georgia Board of Regents marks Aug. 16 as the earliest day for classes to begin.

Dec. 10 is marked as the last day classes may end. It is required that all universities part of the University System of Georgia should hold classes for 75 days per semester.

Of the 36 schools listed on the Board of Regents Web site, only 13 have additional or other holidays besides the standard three. Three of these schools do not get a Labor Day holiday. Many of the schools with fall break end classes later than GC&SU.

Students have mixed opinions about the issue. The calendar has already been set for next year without a fall break.

“Fall break was nice, but I’d rather just focus on school in the fall and then be able to enjoy a longer winter break when the semester is over,” Daniel Seibel said.

“I think not having fall break is wrong,” Tabitha Owens said. “You need time to regroup during the semester, especially after midterms.”

“In the past I spent fall break working on school work, Ben Bozeman said. “A long winter break is better because you don’t have to worry about scholastic agenda during your time off.”

“I like the idea of fall break but it is only a few days long. It doesn’t really seem worth all the concern students are expressing for two days off,” Ashley Foster said. “Many students already only attend classes four days a week. I don’t really feel affected by the decision because I know I have a whole month off before spring semester.”

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents academic calendar can be viewed via the Web site.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 29 2004. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry