Farewell fall break

Farewell fall break

The Johns Hopkins News-Letter · April 15, 2009

The University's announcement that the Fall Break day scheduled for the 2009 Fall semester will be cancelled due to an oversight in scheduling is disappointing. This page agrees that with the already scheduled orientation week and winter vacation limiting possible solutions, the cancellation of Fall Break is perhaps the only viable option.

However, we must express our dissatisfaction with the University's oversight. We understand, as Paula Burger points out, that "the world is [not] going to collapse if we don't have a Fall Break this year," but the cause of this is inexcusable. The fact that the University nearly scheduled a semester with fewer than the minimum hours is ridiculous and taking away a much-appreciated break is a disappointing solution.

Hopkins has shorter semesters than almost every one of its peer institutions. Many of these schools also have fall breaks that last a week, not just a single day. There are many potential benefits of having such a break here at Hopkins. Students could use such down time to do research, catch up on work or simply take a break from their studies. Starting in 2010, the University could begin classes a week earlier and schedule in a real fall break. The SGA and Office of Student Life should pursue this course of action for the benefit of future classes of Hopkins students.