This calendar has the traditional 4-4-1 schedule with slightly longer Fall and Winter semesters. Each semester is 13 weeks with one week of exams. The two semesters are followed by a 5 week short-term. October break has been changed to 2 days. The extra 8:00 am classes are abandoned in this schedule. Thanksgiving break is shortened to four days (Thursday - Sunday). The optional reading week is eliminated. Changes to short term include the following: (1) short term grades count toward the GPA; (2) short term classes will have official course evaluations; (3) each STU must have a minimum of 30 hours of involvement time for students; and (4) faculty who do not want to teach a short term may opt out of it by teaching an additional course in either the Fall or Winter semester. A longer year, providing an opportunity to engage our students more fully. Short-term remains in place to benefit students and faculty who like it for various reasons. With a Spring short term, students will still have the option of getting an early start on summer jobs or research. The inclusion of short term grades in the GPA will help to install a more serious tone to that period of the academic year. The required minimum 30 hours of student involvement during short term will make the workload of all units approximately equivalent. This calendar represents the least dramatic change to the existing calendar. It provides an out for faculty who are unalterably opposed to short term, to the degree that registrations allow it. Eliminating reading week is desirable in that most faculty use the existing reading week to hold additional classes. Eliminating the extra 8:00 am classes is desirable because the majority of the faculty rarely or never use them. It is a longer year, with 3 days fewer vacation in the fall semester. The College will need to remain open longer at some higher cost. There may not be enough short term offerings if many faculty opt out of teaching short term. Faculty who opt out of short term may suffer semester "burn out" with the increased course load. With reading week eliminated, there will be little time for studying between the end of classes and the first possible exam. Will lengthening the year really accomplish the collective pedagogical goals of the faculty and students or will it simply exhaust us? (compare to current 1996-97 calendar from the College Catalog.) September 4, Wed., classes begin October 14-15, October Break November 27-29, Wed.-Fri., Thanksgiving recess December 10, Tues. classes end December 12-17, Thurs.-Tues. (not Sun.), Finals Period January 6, Mon., classes begin February 15-23, Sat.-Sun., Winter recess April 11, Fri., classes end April 14- 18, Finals week April 28, Mon., classes begin May 30, Fri., classes end