Upcoming fall schedules might contain a few changes, including an extra reading day, a shortened Thanksgiving break and some days off in October.

Abbas Aminmansour, University professor and chair of the University Senate’s Committee on Educational Policy, said the proposals are in the preliminary stages and no changes will be active until fall semester 2006 at the earliest.

The current Thanksgiving break has been nine days long since 1999. The proposal to the University Senate suggests that Thanksgiving break start the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, making it a 5-day break. Hassen Al-Shawaf, senior in business and student senator on the Committee on Educational Policy, said the extra two days would allow for a 4-day-long fall break in October when students experience more stress.

“The reason we did it that way was because the most students go in for counseling at that time,” Al-Shawaf said. “It is almost a safety issue when looking at suicide at other universities. We did not want that here.”

The time between Labor Day and Thanksgiving break is the longest span students go without a break in the schedule.

“Our efficiency goes down, stress levels go up,” Aminmansour said. “Some people think that it may be a good idea to have a long weekend sometime during October.”

Six years ago, the University Senate extended Thanksgiving break from a 3-day break to a full week for similar reasons. Bill Riley, dean of students, said that at the time November seemed to be the most stressful month for students, according to a May 4, 1999 Daily Illini article. Student leaders also supported a full week to allow out-of-state students time to return home, and because students often skipped class the Monday and Tuesday before break anyway, the article stated.

Aminmansour said the committee considered out-of-state students’ concerns and felt that one day was enough time to travel home for Thanksgiving.

Al-Shawaf said the first priority when creating a new schedule was the extra reading day. Reading Day currently falls on the Saturday before finals week. The new schedule would allow for the Saturday reading day and an extra reading day during the week. The extra reading day could possibly fall between final exam days.

There would still be six days of final exams, but the weekend break in the middle would allow for more study time.

“Many universities that we compare ourselves to academically have multiple reading days,” said Ryan Ruzic, sophomore in LAS and student senator on the Committee on Educational Policy.

While most of the changes would only affect fall semester, the extra reading day would carry over to spring semester.

The proposed guidelines also suggest starting the fall semester on a Monday instead of a Wednesday. Students currently start fall semester on a Wednesday with Monday’s class schedule.

Aminmansour said the proposed schedule changes would have very little effect on University staff. He said professors and other faculty members do not have the same breaks as the students.

“To us as faculty, these things don’t make any difference whether we have a break in October or a whole week in November for Thanksgiving because technically we are supposed to be here even if there are no classes,” Aminmansour said.

Aminmansour said the Committee had to consider very specific policy guidelines when suggesting a change to the academic calendar. One of the specifics includes the number of required instructional days.

“The University says there has to be 72 instructional days … We wanted to drop the number of instructional days to 71 (to get the extra reading day),” Ruzic said. “The University didn’t want to have one less day.”

Ruzic said he has received mixed feedback concerning the changes because they involve many different parts.

“Feedback from students about starting on Monday and the extra reading day is good,” Ruzic said. “Faculty is very positive to breaking up Thanksgiving break.”

Al-Shawaf said the shorter Thanksgiving break could be an issue for students.

“One concern was getting rid of the week-long Thanksgiving break, which is very popular with students on campus,” Al-Shawaf said.

Aminmansour said he is also considering the effects of dropping the weeklong break.

“Some people – particularly students – may say, ‘Well, we want to go home for Thanksgiving. It would be nice to have the whole week.’ I understand that,” Aminmansour said.

But he also added that a long weekend in October could be very helpful to students.

Students and faculty members will have the opportunity to voice their opinions concerning the proposed schedule changes at the public hearing on Feb. 7, in Room 100 of Gregory Hall from 4 to 6 p.m.

Aminmansour said the input from students and faculty is important to the schedule change process.

“I sincerely hope to get good input from everyone from the campus community so that what we hopefully, eventually propose to the (University) Senate for Senate consideration is something that a good number of people will agree on,” Aminmansour said.