Canceling spring break 2021

[polly_mer]

Ohio State has announced Spring Break will be non-consecutive two days off instead of a consecutive week: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/09/ohio-state-university-cancels-spring-break-2021-to-limit-coronavirus-spread.html

[mythbuster]

I am noticing a bit of socio-economic stratification on this. Schools with enough really affluent students- the kind of students who could afford to go an on a week's bacchanal to Daytona etc, are the schools thinking about cancelling the breaks. Meanwhile my compass point regional, which is overwhelmingly populated by working students, has not changed the schedule at all, even for Fall.  While I do encounter students who go on cruises etc for Spring break, these are almost always with their families, rather than road trip of 20 somethings.
   Then again we are an odd school because we lack a football program in a state where football is overwhelmingly important and dominates even the funding conversations for the local high schools. So we may be self-selecting for the more party averse students.

[tuxthepenguin]

I don't expect many large national universities to have spring break. There's truth to the public health argument, even for the schools that don't care about public health, because they don't want to go online after spring break. They also like slicing off a week of expenses.

[the_geneticist]

Gah!  I am hoping we keep our Spring break.  Why? Because we are on quarters and it is AWFUL to pivot from Winter to Spring with just one week. 
But I'd be shocked if we are back to in person by then anyway (big state school, pandemic hot spot, huge class sizes, etc.). My vote is for 2 weeks of "shelter in place while we all learn online".

[bio-nonymous]

We got our Spring schedule last week: no spring break. I think it is a good idea here (large state school with a "party" reputation), we will get done earlier and not having people traveling back and forth from everywhere...

[peitho]

We here at Regional State U are cancelled. Based on Labor Day attendance, it seems likely that only faculty will work through the holiday. Family trips will go on as scheduled. Frankly, it's a good idea, but doubt the intent will be observed.

[Golazo]

Same thing at my regional-we are also finishing before Thanksgiving (remote finals)

[mythbuster]

We just announce that Spring Break is cancelled. It's stupid. All of our students work. Most of them just work MORE during the week of Spring break. It's really helpful to let everyone have a week mid semester to catch up. I may now need to plan my schedules to build just such a week in.

[TreadingLife]

My school is now realizing that going 14 weeks non-stop is a bad idea. Building in a mutually agreed upon non-Zoom day is also impossible, as we all have different deadlines that have already been set.  Students are not going to travel far if you give them one or two days off during the semester. An abbreviated fall or spring break would be much better than no break at all. But you have to set this ahead of time, otherwise you are never going to get the entire university to agree to take next Wednesday off. It is midterms for gosh sake. In theory, a non Zoom day is a great idea, in practice implementing it during an active semester without any prior planning is idiotic.

[spork]

^ When will many colleges and universities realize that the traditional academic calendar of 14-week fall and spring semesters with a month off in the winter and three months off in the summers is really inefficient and inconvenient?

[Cheerful]

^ When will many colleges and universities realize that the traditional academic calendar of 14-week fall and spring semesters with a month off in the winter and three months off in the summers is really inefficient and inconvenient?

I favor the winter month "off."  Allows people to celebrate holidays, allows profs to breathe for a minute and prep courses for the next semester, and avoids people congregating during the worst of the flu season for a month.

Classes in summer make sense only if the on-campus classes are in buildings with working air conditioning.  I mean for heat reasons but COVID is also a factor now.

[dismalist]

^ When will many colleges and universities realize that the traditional academic calendar of 14-week fall and spring semesters with a month off in the winter and three months off in the summers is really inefficient and inconvenient?

Never! No one cares about overall efficiency with respect to the calendar, even at the very top. Just keep the peons happy! The peons want to teach [work] as little as possible. Thus have as short semesters as the law allows, and Summer sessions are to be mind-bogglingly short.

[I fought for a rational calendar for some years. My most vehement opponents were some of my colleagues. Later, after a victory that proved temporary, the central administration of the far-flung university where I worked took scheduling into its own hands, and things were kept where they had been.]

I don't think even Covid changed anybody's plans in this regard. There's still too much money around. :-)

[Vkw10]

It's official. Our spring calendar will continue as usual. Spring Break is March 15-19. Case count will hit another peak on April Fool's Day.

[FishProf]

My Uni is only now talking about a delayed Spring start and no Spring Break.  Ummmm, isn't a bit late to be starting that conversation?

[OneMoreYear]

My Uni is only now talking about a delayed Spring start and no Spring Break.  Ummmm, isn't a bit late to be starting that conversation?

What, you mean you Uni has the foresight to begin these discussions 2 months in advance of the Spring semester? Where can I get some of those forward thinking administrators?