Next year's Fall Break cut by a day

Fall Break will be shortened by one day next fall because of scheduling problems caused by a late Labor Day. And Commencement for the Class of 1994 will be held on Thursday, rather than the usual Monday, because of a conflict with a large convention being held in Philadelphia that week. The changes, which were released this week on academic calendars through the summer of 1995, are unavoidable, officials said yesterday. Because next year's September 7 Labor Day is later than usual, the fall semester -- which traditionally begins the Thursday after Labor Day -- will be squeezed in between September 10 and December 23, the day final exams must be completed. Because of that squeeze, two "off" days must be eliminated from the fall semester, Assistant to the Vice Provost for University Life Terri Conn said yesterday. One of the days will be made up by shortening the final exam period and another will be taken from Fall Break. Students may encounter more exam conflicts during the shortened finals period because of a growing number of common finals each year, said Sandy Sagan, the assistant registrar for course scheduling and registration. The period for scheduled exams was already extended by one day this year to accommodate more common exams, Sagan said yesterday. Though some students may be disappointed because one day is cut from Fall Break, Conn said this is the best available option which still allows students to return home by December 23 and gives them a long weekend. In 1987, Labor Day also fell late and the University used the same solution, Conn said. "There is a precedent for this," she said. The second major change -- moving Commencement in 1994 to a Thursday -- was made because the American Psychiatric Association is having a convention in the city early in that week and has already booked most of the hotel rooms in the city, Conn said. Conn said the change was made with the convenience of students and their families in mind. "We're hoping certainly that people won't be upset," Conn said. "We are working on trying to avoid any such conflict in the future." Commencement was on Tuesday last year because there was a Jewish Holiday on Monday, Conn said. A Fall Break was suggested by the University Council in 1984 after a number of students and faculty called for a two-day vacation during the fall semester to alleviate student stress. After testing the idea in October 1984, an ad-hoc committee was charged with looking into whether the break was a success. In a report prepared by the director of the University's counseling services, the number of students seeking help during October 1984 was down 34 percent over 1983, and the numbers in November and December were down 22 percent. "I would have to consider that the Fall Break did indeed result in lowered demand for individual counseling services in our agency for the fall semester," then-Director Steven Mullinix stated in his report. The ad-hoc committee also found that both students and faculty were happy with the outcome and recommended that the break be continued on an experimental basis in 1985. The next year, the break was adopted on a permanent basis.

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