Following last week's release of two new options for redesigning the University's academic calendar, faculty members debated the possible schedules during the monthly faculty meeting yesterday afternoon.
Before opening the floor to comments, President Tilghman informed the gathered faculty that no voting would occur and that the meeting was solely to facilitate an informal discussion on the remaining calendar options.
Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel, who usually leads faculty meetings, was out sick.
The proposed academic schedules have stirred discussion in the past week, as the campus has buzzed with discussion of calendar plans that would potentially take effect in about five years. The process of revising the academic calendar began nearly two years ago, with the appointment of a committee led by Malkiel to consider two new calendar options.
The faculty rejected two options last fall, objecting to Calendar B's class-free midterm week and Calendar C's starting of the academic year before Labor Day. Calendar A is the University's current schedule, with 12-week semesters, extended reading periods and fall term final exams in January.
The Committee on the Course of Study created Calendars D and E following the faculty's objections to Calendars B and C.
"[Calendars] B and C were floated last spring," committee member and history professor Hendrik Hartog said. "It is safe to say that there was not even a strong minority in favor of either B or C."
Hartog summarized the main elements of the two new calendar options. Calendar D keeps Fall Break in the schedule, but shortens winter break from three weeks to two. Calendar E eliminates Fall Break and maintains the current three-week winter break.
Both calendar options add a week to the current 12-week semester calendar and allow for a week-long Thanksgiving break.
The current calendar can cause travel headaches for some students, with classes cancelled only on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week.
Calendars D and E both shorten Intersession to five days rather than the current eight. Both schedules combine fall and spring semester reading periods with their final exams, shorten reading periods to three days and move Dean's Date to the middle of exam week. Fall term final exams would still be in January.
The faculty's debate brought up concerns of teaching pressures in the current 12-week schedule, and Hartog said that extending semesters made sense for "strong pedagogical reasons."
Many faculty members endorsed the addition out of concern for the rushed nature of some course syllabi. "I feel out of breath when I teach," committee member and physics professor Chiara Nappi said.
Others objected to the addition of another week to each term, due to either their overall dissatisfaction with the proposed calendars or reasons of research and teaching.
Physics professor Steven Gubser '94 challenged the Committee's contention that an extra week would benefit professors who feel an immense rush to pack their syllabi into a 12-week schedule.
"More teaching does not mean more [time for] research" during the academic year, Gubser said. "I do think that what makes us distinctive [is] that our model [has] intense, intimate interaction every day of the term between faculty and students."
Another reason the Committee cited for 13-week semesters is the University's comparatively short semesters. Harvard and Yale both have 13-week semesters and many peer institutions have even longer terms.
Astrophysical sciences professor Edwin Turner objected to the merit of this argument and argued to keep the current calendar in place. "Different is not necessarily worse," he said.
"I think that the non-classroom instruction is part of the Princeton education," he said, referring in part to junior and senior independent work, much of which is done over vacations.
Slavic languages and literature professor Ellen Chances also supported the current calendar.
"So many people are so overly scheduled — students and faculty alike — that adding one week each semester is not going to be something that is going to make people less hyper," she said. "It's just going to add to the pressure, to the stress of being over-scheduled."
Several faculty members brought up elements of the eliminated Calendar C that they would like to see incorporated into a new schedule.
Chemistry professor Michael Hecht argued for the winter exam period to take place before the long holiday vacation.
He said the current setup of having exams six weeks after the last class of the fall semester is "a serious problem with the Princeton schedule."
"In terms of learning, in terms of having a real winter break, in terms of our ability to finish in the spring ... it's a silly system," he said.
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