From: ENMU President [ENMU.President@enmu.edu] Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 10:40 AM To: Portales & Ruidoso Employees Subject: Fall Break I will recommend to the Board of Regents the approval of the resolution from the Faculty Senate relative to a Fall Break. Quoting from the prologue of the Senate's recommendation: The resolution below amends the student proposal and includes how the missed days would be made up. In creating the proposal, the following was taken into consideration: 1. Any change in schedule should not result in faculty or students having to return to campus substantially earlier in August. 2. Students traditionally have classes canceled one Monday (Labor Day), and one Thursday-Friday (Thanksgiving Break) during the semester. 3. The majority of classes are canceled on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving even though it is officially a day of classes. 4. A significant number of students miss classes on the Monday of Thanksgiving week and that number increases each subsequent day of Thanksgiving week. 5. Three other New Mexico Universities have Fall Breaks during Thanksgiving week (according to the information provided by the Student Senate). 6. There is precedent at other universities for starting classes mid week. So the resolution below would have classes start on Wednesday instead of the following Monday. It provides the same number of class days as the 2006 Fall academic calendar. The only faculty who would have to be on campus earlier would be new faculty and department chairs. The rest of the faculty would still report on the same Monday as in 2006. If the Board approves this request, the Fall Break will go into effect for the 2008 fall semester. I regret that the Break could not occur for the 2007 fall semester, but the recommendation came forward too late in the academic year to implement in 2007. Catalogs and schedules are already set for fall 2007, and we would have little time to plan for the necessary changes in New Faculty Orientation, Chair Orientation, Back to Campus Information Sessions, Dawg Days, and other important activities. The following is the resolution that is put forward by the Faculty Senate after its consultation with the Student Senate (please note that I have changed the dates from 2007 to 2008 because the Fall Break cannot be initiated until fall 2008): BE IT RESOLVED THAT starting in fall 2008 the University build the academic calendar to provide that there be no classes Thanksgiving week. In order to make up for the traditional three class days that will be canceled, it is suggested that fall semester classes begin on Wednesday of the prior week in August. Therefore, the academic calendar for fall 2008 is as follows: Friday, August 15: New Faculty Orientation; New Department Chair Orientation; and Recurring Department Chair Orientation (events traditionally held on Monday of the week before classes). Monday, August 18 General Faculty Meeting; and College/Department Meetings (events traditionally held on the Wednesday before classes). Tuesday, August 19 Portales Campus Employees' Breakfast; Back to Campus Informational Sessions; and New Faculty Dinner (events traditionally held the Tuesday before classes). Wednesday, August 20 Classes Begin Monday, September 1 No Classes - Labor Day Monday, November 24 No Classes - Thanksgiving Break Begins Monday, December 1 Classes Resume - Thanksgiving Break Ends Friday, December 5 Last Day of Classes Monday, December 8 Exam Week Begins Friday, December 12 Exam Week Ends Saturday, December 13 Graduation I thank the Student Senators and Faculty Senators who worked together to develop this proposal. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments. Thank you, Steve Gamble President *** List services provided by Eastern New Mexico University ***