Fac Sen: Vote for longer winter break
On the agenda for the Faculty Senate this Wednesday is a vote to set the academic calendar for upcoming years. We encourage them to undo the current calendar and return Rice to a longer winter break.
The current calendar was set in Sept. 2005, when faculty cut winter break and extended summer break with the intention of helping students with summer internships. Unfortunately, the gain of one week during the summer was nowhere near worth the loss of one week during the winter.
Winter break is supposed to be a time of relaxation after the stress of finals. While an extra week of summer fades into the rest of the dog days, every hour during the winter reprieve is precious recovery time, and that extra week can do wonders.
For students who want to travel, two weeks may be too short a time to truly settle and explore before having to come back to campus — especially for those who want to travel abroad. Rome was not built in a day, and Europe cannot be explored in two weeks.
Winter break is also an important time for students to go home and spend the holidays with family. But for students who do not live in Houston, or even worse, live abroad, the current winter break is much too short. In contrast, summer breaks are usually spent working — not to mention that familial nagging can get a little tiresome after three months. A longer winter break would provide a perfect window of time to settle down at home.
Even the original argument for extending summer break — job opportunities — can be applied to why it should be undone. While an extra week during summer may help with summer internships, cutting down winter break makes getting a job during the break all but impossible. Adding back the week would help students who work gain some extra cash for the upcoming semester.
Rice has tried out this new calendar, and it has not worked. The Faculty Senate should give campus back a real winter break, and as soon as possible.
Other opinion stories
- Dinner departure reveals miscommunication
- Letters to the editor
- Pavilion should reflect campus culture, waffles
- SA: Vote no on by-law change
- Sid socials overlook Jewish students
- Socials: Party on Purim
News
- BitTorrent sites banned by Rice IT
- Brinkley lectures on new book about Hurricane Katrina
- Constitution Day faculty panel addresses affirmative action
- Documentary raises question of global dimming
- mtvU to be added to campus TV listings
- News in Brief
- The votes are in
- White dispels leadership myths
Sports
- Injuries plague the Owls, but experience keeps morale high
- Men's tennis struggles to keep pace in season opener
- Owls fall to Islanders at Rice Invitational
- Red Raiders use the big play to outshoot Owls
- Sid Rich throttles Baker 26-0 to start Powderpuff season
- Volleyball continues its road woes
- Women's cross dominates opener