Results of a fall break poll that saw 5,655 Carleton students vote in favour were presented to the university’s senate Oct. 26, and will now head to a committee for further review.
Carleton University Students’ Association president Alexander Golovko and Carleton Academic Student Government president Andrew Kwai will report the results to the Carleton University Senate Committee on Curriculum Admissions and Studies Policy for further review and analysis of the results.
The committee will then present a motion in the November session of the Senate to amend the academic calendar to include a fall break.
According to the current proposal, the fall break would run for one week, starting Thanksgiving Monday. Senate members, however, will be able to raise concerns and modify the proposal.
Kelly Black, president of the Graduate Students’ Association, thinks that the idea of having a fall break is a good one, but says there are questions about when exactly the break should be scheduled.
“The University of Ottawa has a fall break during the last week of October, and I think it would make sense that, if we were to have a fall break, it would sync up with [theirs]. There has been talk of having the fall break early in October,” he said.
“Usually, the reason for having a fall break is for mental health issues, and the stressful time of the year is usually closer towards November, so there’s a question of ‘Is the fall break meant to offer students a mental health break, a stress break; or is it so that people can have time off?’”
He also adds that the university community must be widely consulted. “A poll is a start, but it is not enough. The faculty union, the TA and contract instructor union, as well as the staff union all need to be consulted on this matter before a decision is made.”
Carleton vice-president (academic) Peter Ricketts said he didn’t have any concerns with the idea of a fall break at Carleton, considering how most universities already have their own fall breaks every year.
“During the last Senate meeting, some senators asked to be given more information about the possible dates for having the fall break, either in October or in November, and also said that it would be more ideal if Carleton could have a fall break that lined up with that of [the University of Ottawa],” he said.
