Open letter to the SGA about proposed fall break

This is merely a comment about how the proposed two-day fall break might add two days at the start of the fall semester, cause a shortened Thanksgiving Break or add two days at the end of the fall semester.

Starting classes on a Wednesday is very beneficial to students. It gives students the weekend to find and buy books. Although most professors expect students to have the book by the following week, they do not mind students not having the book for 1-2 classes. If there was a whole week at the start of term, then professors might not want to teach a whole week without the book. This puts more pressure on the students, professors and the book stores.

Starting classes on a Wednesday also allows students to ease them back into the swing of things instead of diving into a full week of classes. This is especially beneficial to the freshmen who are just starting college life.

Adding two days to our Thanksgiving Break actually takes four days from the break, which includes that first weekend. This causes the break to decrease from nine days to five days.

For the Iron Bowl-bound student, their break goes from seven days to three days. A shortened Thanksgiving Break would put a strain on traveling plans and might even prevent out-of-state students from traveling home at all. Especially with the Iron Bowl being the weekend after Thanksgiving, students might not get the break they need.

Lastly, if there were an additional two days at the end of the semester, this would add almost an entire week to the end of the semester, assuming you still have two study days after the last day of class. The last class day would be on a Tuesday, and the following Wednesday thru Thursday would be study days, and Friday thru Thursday would be exam days, if you don't have exams being administered on the weekend. This adds six days to the end of the semester, not just two. While adding two days to the start of the fall term would be just that, taking two days from Thanksgiving Break or adding two days to the end of the fall semester is not that simple. Is this really necessary?

Heather Oakes

senior

chemical engineering