The University is planning to update the academic calendar for the 2022-23 academic year, giving students the day off on Election Day.

During the University Senate’s Educational Policy Committee meeting on Monday, the committee voted to approve a proposal that would add an additional day off on Nov. 8, 2022, Election Day, to the 2022-23 academic calendar. 

The proposal comes after the state government passed a law making Election Day a state holiday, stating that Nov. 8, 2022, “shall be deemed a legal school holiday” for Illinois schools and universities.

“As you remember, the state decided to make Election Day a state holiday,” said Linda Moorhouse, chair of the committee. “That is something that we follow, and so there does need to be an adjustment in our upcoming academic calendar.”

This change would result in one less day of instruction for students in the fall semester, which could lead to concerns with faculty in course instruction. 

“The (University) Senate may bring something like that up — like why are we getting rid of this day and unbalancing courses and all that,” said Nolan Miller, professor in Business and a member of the committee. “And I think the answer is at this point, we just follow the law. We can’t do much about this.”

Currently, this change will only be implemented for the 2022-23 school year with future decisions up in the air. 

The proposal will be sent to the University Senate for final approval at its next meeting on April 25. 

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