Faculty Council began discussion Monday to extend Thanksgiving holiday. The Calendar Committee proposed four options to give students an extra holiday while still complying with calendar principles. 

According to Faculty Council Chairwoman Hillary Hart, one option involves changing the calendar principles’ current mandate of 42 Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes to 41, avoiding further changes to the beginning or end of the semester. The other options involve starting fall classes Monday or Tuesday instead of Wednesday, or extending class at the end of the fall semester, eliminating one dead day before finals.

“Unlike the fall break proposal from last year, cancelling classes on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will have far less impact on instruction,” Hart said.

President William Powers Jr. said he would support whatever the committee decides, although he is opposed to beginning fall classes on a Monday.

“I will approve anything [the council] decides, but Monday would be tough. … Starting classes on Monday morning would require attention to orientation. … Starting on Tuesday is logistically doable from our point of view,” Powers said. “We can mange doing orientation on Monday and Gone to Texas on Monday night.”

The council ultimately decided to send the proposal back to the Calendar Committee for further discussion and will vote on it later this year.