Days off, J-terms and the semester at large are determined at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) by the administration and recommended by the Calendar Committee.
The Calendar Committee is composed of voices including the Director of Student Life, Associated Student Government (ASG) President, Faculty Senate Chair and more. Together they look at the future calendar for students and fit it together based on accreditation standards and research.
“We’re really looking for student input here, because the reality of being a twenty-first century student has changed. I think that the past year has really reminded us of that and I think that not only should the voice of a traditional student who’s on campus be represented, but also voices of students who don’t come to campus, or who study online, or non-traditional students who are working a job or trying to raise a family,” ASG President Jay Shearrow said.
There’s a specific amount of hours that need to be fitted into the calendar for classroom time or online instruction. CMU is allotted around six to eight days off per semester including Thanksgiving and Spring breaks. The committee also discusses J-terms.
“J-term is extremely important to our nursing students because they have cohorts that really depend on getting those instructional hours during [January]. As a business analytics student, I don’t think about J-term all that much, but [it] is really important for other different sets of students,” Shearrow said.
The August 21 start day for school was decided by the administration with recommendations a few years ago.
“Another thing that’s really been insightful is the reason why we don’t have Labor Day off,” Shearrow said. “Labor Day is really difficult, because as a student who’s from here, say I had a really bad two weeks at Mesa my first year. I might just go home and just stay there. It’s really beneficial to keep students here on Labor Day because it helps us get students into their Mavilies.”
One thing that’s in discussion is how to continue to handle Thanksgiving break: having students return home for a week only to return for another two can be tricky to balance when finding the right schedule for students.
For students with feedback on the schedule, email Shearrow at jtshearrow@mavs.coloradomesa.edu.
