Faculty senate proposes reconstruction of 2013-2014 academic year

By Alexis Nicole Mortenson | gargoyle@flagler.edu

On October 24, the Faculty senate of Flagler College met to finalize their proposal for the 2013-2014 academic year. If passed, this proposal will add drastic changes to both the Fall and Spring semester for the upcoming 2013-2014 year.

“Flagler is outside the norm, if you look at the average of minutes that students attend class compared to dozens of institutions, we’re below that mean of minutes,” Woolfolk said.

The Faculty senate are proposing many changes to reconstruct the 2013-2014 year. The first reform seeks to incorporate Columbus Day as a holiday into the fall semester, as well as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. As far as the spring, the senate wishes to incorporate the Wednesday before Spring break, as well as an additional break day on the second Tuesday in February.

“What this proposed calendar does is not only add seat time, but it adds days to the calendar to give a little more breathing room for faculty,” Woolfolk said.

This proposal also seeks to add one reading day prior to the beginning of finals for both semesters, and changes the duration of finals from their normal allotted time to two hours.

To accommodate these changes, the senate proposed that both the fall and spring semesters be extended one week, pushing us into mid December and mid April like most universities.

Carlos Fernandez, a Flagler College student, says, “By all means, bring it on, I would love to have another week for spring and fall because papers are definitely due.”

In earlier years President Abare has vetoed previous resolutions due to the cost for the college, but this year, he recognizes that if this passes, there will be additional costs.

This resolution will be carried to the President Abare and, if passed, will reconstruct the 2013-2014 Academic Calendar.