Student Government Association President Owen Parrish stated his attempt to add a fall break at Auburn, and true to his promise, he is attempting to add the break.
Recently, Auburn students received a survey which asked several questions about the possibility of a fall break. The survey said the break would be two days long, and would occur either on the end of the first half of the semester or the beginning of the second half of the semester.
"I think it would be pretty cool to have a few days off in the fall," said Elliot Skinner, sophomore in software engineering. "I mean, I don't know how I feel about making the days up, but it's an interesting idea."
The class days would have to be made up at either the beginning of the semester or at the end, so there is no possibility of the school days disappearing.
SGA said it believes that students need the days off so they can recharge for the second half of the semester, much like spring break.
"There are 12 weeks between Labor Day and Thanksgiving break, which means students are hardly able to catch up on sleep, schoolwork, or other activities they are involved in," said Collier Tynes, Parrish's campaign manager and member of the University's fall break task force. "Having a break in the middle of the semester, just as we do for spring, will allow students to come back more rested and motivated to continue their schoolwork."
Not all students are convinced that it is beneficial.
"I'd be all for the break if we didn't have to make the days up," said Addison Baitcher, sophomore in mechanical engineering. "We have a full week off for Thanksgiving, so that kind of serves as a fall break too."
The difference between Thanksgiving break and the proposed fall break is the former is at the end of the semester before finals while the latter would be in the middle of the semester.
"Fall break would offer invaluable time for students to catch up," Tynes said. "The expansive amount of time between breaks in the fall semester, as well as the incredibly busy campus atmosphere, makes it very difficult to stay on top of workloads and has a detrimental effect on learning.
"A fall break would give students time to catch up academically and be well rested to continue the remainder of the semester. Students will be able to do what they wish with their two days off, whereas the rest of the semester our schedules are restricted to what our class syllabi tell us."
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