In an email poll this October, over 8,000 students responded to a question asking them if they would like a fall break.
The turnout has been called one of the largest in Carleton history, according the poll’s organizers, the Carleton University Students’ Association and the Carleton Academic Student Government.
Nearly 70 per cent of students who responded voted in favour of the break.
Carleton’s Senate Committee on Curriculum Admissions and Studies Policy has been charged with looking at the possible implementation of the fall break.
The committee will present its recommendation to the Senate in January, when the Senate will vote on whether to implement the break.
Committee chair Donald Russell presented the pros and cons of the break at a Senate meeting Nov. 30.
Here’s what the fall break might look for for students, according to his presentation:
When?
The fall break, as currently proposed, will be held during the Thanksgiving week.
While Carleton currently has a four-day holiday, including University Day on Friday, the two-day weekend, and Thanksgiving Monday, the new fall break will run from Thanksgiving Monday until the end of the week. This would make it a nine-day break, including the two weekends.
University Day would be shifted into the fall break.
The fall term:
The fall term has to have a minimum of 62 teaching days and 13 exam days, and these will have to be maintained along with any proposed fall break.
Pros:
- Students will get a break in the fall, just like they voted for.
- Gives the students time to reorganize, catch up, and prepare for the remainder of the term.
- Gives time for faculty to finalize grant proposals and time to plan for other duties that would otherwise be difficult.
Cons:
- Having a break, if scheduled around Thanksgiving, might be too early in the term.
- Carleton will lose an orientation day in some years to make up for any lost working days.
- Exams may have to be scheduled on Sundays to make up for any lost exam days.
- More students might request for exam rescheduling accommodations because exams will move closer to Christmas Day and students will need time to go back home (exams can end as late as Dec. 23 under the current proposal).
- Exams could start a day after the end of class, as opposed to two days after.
- Students may have to pay more for booking flights later in the holiday season if their exams end later.
What other universities are doing:
Ryerson University and Nipissing University already have fall breaks around Thanksgiving.
The University of Ottawa has a fall break from Oct. 22-26. The University of Toronto has a break of two days on Nov. 12 and 13.
Several other Ontario universities are considering fall breaks, including McMaster, Lakehead and Wilfred Laurier.
