Following a very detailed discussion Wednesday, the Academic Senate voted in favor of the new 2018-2019 calendar that will shorten Winter Break, keep the dual Summer Sessions and add a one week break between Spring and the first Summer Session.
However, the calendar vote didn’t go quite as planned. Originally, senators were asked to decide on both the 2018-2019 calendar and the 2019-2020 calendar. This was a result of an earlier resolution by the Senate to start planning future calendars two years in advance.
Some senators strongly supported the advanced scheduling. Senator Gwyer Schuyler of the educational support division said that if the Senate approved both calendars at once, counselors would be able to help students create more accurate educational plans.
“I feel like it does all the things we’ve been talking about for the past two years,” said Kim Monda, a past president of the Academic Senate.
But not every member of the Senate was onboard with the new plan. In fact, most weren’t.
The arguments against the new plan ranged from disapproval of the double summer sessions, to concerns about pacing and schedule compression.
“I just feel like two summer sessions sucks for everybody,” said Danielle Swiontek, senator for the Social Sciences division. “I get two days to grade 200 essays and turn in my grades.”
When the original plan to approve two year’s calendars was finally put to a vote, it was defeated 6-11 with one abstention.
“The fact that we need to have [both years] planned, and the only difference is we’re adjusting the calendar a week in either direction, to me just doesn’t seem to hold water,” said Matthew Kay, a senator for the Sciences division. “We can plan 2019-2020 next year, and give [ourselves] time to start solving some of these issues.”
In the wake of the initial vote, Kay started a motion to approve only the 2018-2019 calendar.
Approving a single calendar ended up being the more popular option among the senators and won their recommendation by a vote of 13-4. The Senate’s recommendations will now return to the Calendar Committee.
The Academic Senate will reconvene Wednesday, April 19, to make up for the meeting that was canceled due to the recent power outage.
