Faculty Senate to discuss start date of spring semester, possibly eliminating spring break
One option would include starting semester a week later and canceling spring break
An empty view from above The Well at Sacramento State Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Sac State’s Faculty Senate will meet Thursday to discuss potentially pushing back the start date of the spring 2021 semester and eliminating spring break.
December 1, 2020
Sacramento State’s Faculty Senate will meet Thursday to discuss potentially pushing back the start date of the spring 2021 semester and eliminating spring break.
The semester is scheduled to begin Jan. 25, 2021 and spring break is scheduled March 22 through March 28, 2021.
In an email obtained by The State Hornet, Faculty Senate Chair Tracy Dawn Hamilton outlined the options that the senate will consider.
The options provided to the senate by the Division of Academic Affairs include either not changing the spring break, starting instruction one week late and eliminating spring break or starting instruction three days late and having a shorter spring break.
Spring break options:
- No change to spring break.
- Start instruction one week later, no spring break.
- Start instruction three days later, shorter spring break.
Options for approved face-to-face courses:
- Approved face-to-face classes may meet face-to-face starting on day one of the semester.
- Approved face-to-face classes must meet virtually for the first few weeks of the semester. For this option, there is also the question of how long to delay face-to-face interaction for these courses at the start of the semester.
The Faculty Senate will meet again Thursday and have a Committee of the Whole Discussion, which will give the senators a chance to voice their opinions about all of the prospective ideas.
The discussion comes at a time when Sac State administration is concerned for the health and safety of students and faculty on campus after returning from winter break and spring break, according to Hamilton.
San Diego State’s University Senate implemented a schedule adjustment Tuesday similar to one of Sac State’s proposed options, canceling spring break and instead scheduling four “rest and recovery” days distributed throughout the semester.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new details are received.
