Spring break canceled, semester to start late, faculty senate votes
One-day breaks throughout the semester will take place of spring break
Spring 2021 will have a delayed start to prevent too many students from arriving in Pullman at once.
October 9, 2020
Faculty Senate voted to change spring semester classes to start Jan. 19, cancel spring break and include one-day academic breaks throughout the semester.
WSU is eliminating spring break because of public health concerns. The cancelation is a national trend, said Elizabeth Chilton, WSU provost and executive vice president.
“Institutions around the country are eliminating spring break,” she said. “We do not want to send students home for a week and have them come back.”
Instead of spring break, there will be three to four one-day academic breaks throughout the semester, Chilton said.
Professors are concerned the lack of spring break could impact student’s mental health, said Season Hoard, clinical associate professor at WSU’s School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs.
Students and faculty need breaks, she said. Many students are doing more than just taking classes online, she said. People have been working from home for a significant amount of time. Staring at a computer screen all day impacts a person.
WSU Spanish professor Vilma Navarro-Daniels said she does not think three or four days will be enough of a break for students or faculty.
There will be people who will work on these academic break days, she said. It is different than having an entire weeklong break.
The majority of COVID-19 cases at the beginning of the outbreak occurred when students went on spring break, said Mary Jo Gonzales, WSU vice president of student affairs.
“It was traced to Mexico, Kentucky and Florida,” Gonzalez said. “It is important that we do not create an environment like that in the Pullman community.”
The spring semester will also have a delayed start to prevent too many students from arriving at once even though classes will mostly be online, Chilton said.
When students arrive, COVID-19 testing will be available and students will self-quarantine, she said.
Jefferson Griffeath, WSU business law professor, said he is concerned about the isolation students will face when students come back a week early with self-quarantine.
The spring semester was originally set to start on Wednesday, Jan. 20. After several professors expressed concerns over how this could negatively impact students, the date was changed to Tuesday, Jan. 19.
Michael Kahn, professor at WSU’s Institute of Biological Chemistry, said that if classes started on Tuesday, then classes with a Tuesday/Thursday schedule would not be impacted. He did not like the original start date.
Even with the changes taking place at the beginning of the semester, Chilton said WSU will end in early May as normal.
Hannah Henderson • Oct 12, 2020 at 3:08 pm
I understand why cancelling spring break would help keep students from traveling, but for the many that aren’t need this break. WSU is so concerned about students’ mental health but then discuss taking away our only break in the spring semester. Most students have homework during break anyways, at least I usually do. So at least a couple days of break include homework, which means having one day off isn’t going to benefit students.
Tamara • Oct 12, 2020 at 1:19 am
A “one-day break” is not a break. Weekends are breaks from classes but there’s homework due Sunday night or Monday. So a one-day break will still be used for homework. Spring break is at least a break from having to either attend classes *or* work on homework.
I understand they want to keep people from partying in Florida or Cancún and spreading Covid but just eliminating spring break is not a good solution. Extending winter break is also not useful. It’s important to have a break in the middle of the semester as well. People can only be under high stress so long at a time.
Ashley Williams • Oct 11, 2020 at 11:51 pm
As a new mom, a student who works part time, a student who now has to bring her daughter to every class, a student returning after a break and trying to end their academic probation I have had a run of struggles. I struggled a lot with my mental health and the switch to online was another hurdle that turned out to work pretty well in my favor. Studying from home allows me to miss less class because we can’t afford childcare but it brings new challenges in that I don’t always get to engage to my full potential. I won’t be able to keep up with my schoolwork if I don’t have a week to catch up. I need this extra week where professors don’t assign any new work to catch up on old work, review, and study ahead. I feel like this decision is not in the best interests of my mental health. I feel like it’s a punishment in response to the students who are choosing to party and travel and not isolate and social distance. I believe it is unfair to those of us staying home and social distancing during this time. I also believe that either the students should have had a voice or their should be restrictions set on how much material professors can assign the week before and after these “breaks” that are being implemented.
Carson Carruthers • Oct 9, 2020 at 11:54 pm
As a STEM student I fully agree with administration. I utilize all breaks 100% to give my brain a rest. My mental health won’t suffer largely with no break. These “one day” breaks are not at all equivalent to a break because there’s always something “I could be doing” that’s due the next day, and if weekends are extended, professors will just assign a bunch over the weekend therefore not making it a break at all. Online classes are already effecting our mental health and stress levels enough. Not being able to look forward to a mental rest or time to just relax will just make it worse. I can not handle just a day because I’ll just use it as a school day to get ahead since it’s not a long enough break to actually be unproductive.