This year’s Fall Break, spanning Oct. 16-17, has been shortened from five days to two for the first time since 2021.
A two-day break had long been the norm before a week-long break went into effect for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years. In 2021, the academic calendar had changed from a 15-week semester to a 16 week semester, said Peter Norberg, Ph.D., professor of English and associate provost for academic and faculty support. The return to a 15-week semester for the 2023-24 academic year is why Fall Break is again condensed.
The university’s merger with University of the Sciences necessitated the semesters to be shortened a week, Norberg said. He also said the 16-week calendar had created an overlap of the spring and summer semesters, and it would have been impossible for students to be enrolled in two semesters simultaneously.
The change was implemented by an adhoc Academic Calendar Review Committee, appointed in 2020 by current university President Cheryl A. McConnell, Ph.D., who was the provost at the time, Norberg said. The committee consists of the provost, registar, deans and other faculty members.
Ava Voight ’25 said she was shocked to hear the news that Fall Break had been shortened as she had been accustomed to the full week her first two years at St. Joe’s.
“I was upset because we’ve always had this break and now it’s taken away once we are juniors,” Voight said. “It’s not fair.”
The change transitioned the fall calendar back to what it has always been, Norberg said. Between the two-day Fall Break and Thanksgiving Break, which is Nov. 22-24 this year, creates a full week off in the fall semester.
Ani Gueyikian ’25 said she was fine with the change at first, thinking it would mean a full week off for Thanksgiving Break instead.
“I really tried to make peace with the situation,” Gueyikian said. “Then, I found out that Thanksgiving Break wasn’t getting extended. I feel like the best scenario would be to extend Thanksgiving Break to a week and not give us any days off [earlier] in the fall.”
Gueyikian, who is from Fort Lee, New Jersey, a two hour drive from Hawk Hill, said the change to Fall Break disrupted her plans to leave campus.
“That was the only time I was going to go home because I live far away,” Gueyikian said. “And now I’m not going [home] until November.”
