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It’s time to consider a new calendar

Princeton University, by all accounts, has an unusual academic calendar among its peers. We start school in mid-September and end in late May. We take finals in January — a tradition begun in the 1939-40 academic year which has persisted into the 21st century.

Over a year ago, students were frustrated and surprised to find that the 2015-16 academic year would feature a two-week winter break, instead of the more typical three-week break. USG ran a short survey and a referendum on the issue. But unfortunately for USG and the 98 percent of students who voted for a three-week break, a shortened winter break on some years is written into the University’s rules and procedures for the calendar. So are several other anomalies in our academic calendar — the relatively late start compared to our peer institutions and finals after, instead of before, winter recess.

Many students have written columns for this paper arguing that finals after winter break are harmful to student learning, mental health and co-curricular opportunities. But initiatives to change the calendar have notoriously failed, with the most recent attempt occurring in 2007-08. The 2007-08 effort was stymied, in part, by the multiplicity of options. Four calendars were suggested and, predictably, none of them gained the necessary support from student and faculty members.

The current survey, to be released on March 1 by the Office of Institutional Research, attempts to avoid previous mistakes. The survey was co-authored by the USG Academics Committee and the Office of the Dean of the College. It is the product of a months-long collaboration on designing and vetting questions. Undergraduates, graduate students and faculty will be surveyed on their satisfaction with the current calendar and on their calendar preferences. Questions include whether finals should be before or after winter recess and the desired length of the teaching period. Most importantly, the survey invites respondents to consider the trade-offs that accompany any calendar change.

This survey is our best hope to find out if students and faculty alike would prefer an alternative calendar — and if so, how such a calendar could be structured to best serve all members of the Princeton community. Princeton’s calendar is set and voted on by the faculty, so any change must strongly benefit professors as well as graduate students and undergraduates.

We encourage all students — whether you love the current calendar or hate it, whether you prefer your finals in December or in January — to take the survey. Consider the trade-offs, and think about how your learning, your mental health and your opportunities can be optimized. Discuss the options with your peers. It’s been 75 years. It’s time to consider a change.

Shannon Osaka, USG Academics Chair

Ramie Fathy, USG Academics Chair-Emeritus

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