To: Faculty and Staff
From: President Steven G. Poskanzer
Date: Thursday, May 6, 2004
Re: Academic Calendar
As you know, the final responsibility for promulgating the college's academic calendar rests with the vice presidents and I sitting together as a Cabinet. The Cabinet's deliberations are, in turn, shaped in large part by the faculty and professional staff's collective views about the calendar as elucidated through regular governance channels.
In my two-and-a-half years here, there have been annual, intense, and sometimes very painful debates about what our calendar should look like. The central feature of these debates has been whether the college's calendar should continue to recognize (as it has for many years) a small number of religious holidays.
At a recent meeting, the faculty agreed that the Cabinet should set the calendars for academic years 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08. By resolving three calendars at once, the faculty was (wisely in my view) hoping to bring closure to these debates for a period of time.
The content of the academic calendar should reflect a broad and evident consensus across our community. Over time, community views will evolve and such changes will be reflected in the calendar. However, it is my belief that such consensus needs to be clear-cut before changes are implemented.
While there may be growing sentiment to change the calendar to reflect a more secular orientation, the requisite consensus to make such a change has not yet emerged. The wrenching and increasingly destructive debates I have heard about the calendar at our faculty meetings lead me to conclude that our community is best served at this time by retaining our traditional calendar.
Accordingly, the vice presidents and I have decided to implement a traditional academic calendar through academic year 2007/08 (see below) with the following minor modifications and supplements:
- In the proposed traditional calendar for spring semester 2007, students were scheduled to attend classes for 10 weeks before spring break. The vice presidents and I felt this was educationally unsound. Following special consultation with the Academic Affairs Committee (which concurred that Cabinet was empowered to make this change), we have adopted a slightly different calendar for this semester that places spring break in March. Consequently, for this year only, classes will meet on Good Friday. We regard this schedule as an aberration. Fortunately, because most Friday classes meet in the morning, those who wish to be home on Friday afternoon or evening can probably do so.
- We endorse the Academic Affairs Committee's suggestion for a diversity calendar and will implement this idea.
In time, we will revisit the policies and viewpoints that are reflected in our calendar. However, this resolution for the next three academic years is healthy and wise for our community.
The three years of calendars will be as follows:
Fall 05 Traditional
| August 25 Thursday |
Classes Begin |
| September 5 Monday |
Labor Day NO CLASSES |
| October 3-4 Mon & Tues |
Rosh Hashanah NO CLASSES |
| October 12 Wednesday |
Classes are in session |
| October 13 Thursday |
Yom Kippur NO CLASSES |
| October 14 Friday |
NO CLASSES |
| November 23-25 Wed,Thurs &Fri |
Thanksgiving NO CLASSES |
| December 13 Tuesday |
Make up class / Study day |
| December 14 Wednesday |
Common finals |
| December 15-21 Thurs-Wed |
Final exams |
| December 23 Friday |
Grades due by 2:00 |
Spring 06 Traditional
| January 23 Monday |
Classes begin |
| February 20 Monday |
President's Day Break; NO CLASSES |
| March 20-24 Mon-Fri |
Spring Break |
| April 12 Wednesday |
No classes after 3:15 |
| April 13 Thursday |
Passover NO CLASSES |
| April 14 Friday |
Good Friday NO CLASSES |
| May 9 Tuesday |
THURSDAY CLASSES MEET |
| May 10 Wednesday |
FRIDAY CLASSES MEET |
| May 11 Thursday |
Make up class / Study day |
| May 12 Friday |
Common finals |
| May 15-19 Mon-Fri |
Final exams |
| May 21 Sunday |
Commencement |
| May 23 Tuesday |
Grades due 2:00 |
Fall 06 Traditional
| August 28 Monday |
Classes Begin |
| September 4 Monday |
Labor Day NO CLASSES |
| September 22 Friday |
NO CLASSES AFTER 3:15 |
| October 2 Monday |
Yom Kippur NO CLASSES |
| October 3 Tuesday |
NO CLASSES |
| November 23-25 Wed,Thurs &Fri |
Thanksgiving NO CLASSES |
| December 12 Tuesday |
Make up class / Study day |
| December 13 Wednesday |
Common finals |
| December 14-20 Thurs-Wed |
Final exams |
| December 22 Friday |
Grades due by 2:00 |
Spring 07 Traditional
| January 22 Monday |
Classes begin |
| February 19 Monday |
Wednesday classes meet 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Classes after 3 p.m. are Monday classes. |
| March 19-23 | Spring Break |
| April 3,4 Tues., Wed. |
No classes. Classes resume Wednesday at 3 p.m. |
| May 9 Wednesday |
Make up class / Study day |
| May 10 Thursday |
Common finals |
| May 11-17 Fri-Thurs |
Final exams |
| May 20 Sunday |
Commencement |
| May 22 Tuesday |
Grades due 2:00 |
Fall 07 Traditional
| August 23 Thursday |
Classes Begin |
| September 3 Monday |
Labor Day NO CLASSES |
| September 12 Wednesday |
No classes after 3:15 |
| September 13 Thursday |
Rosh Hashanah NO CLASSES |
| September 14 Friday |
NO CLASSES |
| September 21 Friday |
No classes after 3:15 Yom Kippur |
| October 8 Monday |
Columbus Day NO CLASSES |
| October 9 Tuesday |
MONDAY CLASSES MEET |
| November 21-23 Wed,Thurs &Fri |
Thanksgiving NO CLASSES |
| December 10 Monday |
Make up class / Study day |
| December 11 Tuesday |
Makeup class / Study day |
| December 12 Wednesday |
Common finals |
| December 13-19 Th-Wed |
Final exams |
| December 21 Friday |
Grades due by 2:00 |
Spring 08 Traditional
| January 23 Wednesday |
Classes begin |
| February 18 Monday |
Presidents' Day NO CLASSES |
| March 17-21 Mon-Fri |
Spring Break; |
| March 21 | Good Friday |
| May 7 Wednesday |
MONDAY CLASSES MEET |
| May 8 Thursday |
Make up class / Study day |
| May 9 Friday |
Common finals |
| May 12-16 Fri-Thurs |
Final exams |
| May 18 Sunday |
Commencement |
| May 20 Tuesday |
Grades due 2:00 |
