Fall refresher

Dalhousie students will get a day off from classes starting in the fall.

Dalhousie students will get an extra day off from classes next fall.

The Dalhousie Senate has approved a “Fall Study Day,” to take place this year on Friday, November 12. With a holiday on November 11, Remembrance Day, the extra day off provides for a four-day weekend in November.

But it's only for students. The university will remain open.

“The intention is to give students a chance to catch up,” says Rob LeForte, vice president (education) for the Dalhousie Student Union. “It’s the ‘pinch’ time of year—students are getting their midterms back and a lot of assignments are piling up … so this is a day to study or catch up if you need to.”

The DSU brought the proposal for a fall study day to the Senate Committee on Academic Administration, which also saw merit in the idea.

“It’s exactly that, a chance for students to catch their breath,” says Alan Shaver, vice president academic and provost. “That first term especially can be challenging for students who are new to the university experience having come from high school.”

The day off from classes is in addition to Munro Day, a university-wide holiday scheduled for the first Friday in February, and winter study break, this year falling from February 22 to February 26.

The University of Ottawa has opted to schedule a full week off of classes in the fall of 2010, instead of just one day. Trent University in Peterborough has had a fall reading week—officially “Residential Reading and Laboratory Week”— for many years.

Dr. Shaver says scheduling a full week off from classes in the fall would be more difficult to arrange while maintaining the full number of teaching days in the term.