Beginning this year, fall semester classes will begin on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday. Orientation for first-year students will still begin on the Tuesday of the previous week, which means that Orientation will be one day shorter.
This fall, Orientation will begin on Tuesday, August 23 for first years and classes for all students will begin on Wednesday, August 31. While the official calendar for the 2016-2017 academic year is expected to come out later this week, the change is expected to affect other aspects of the calendar as well.
Residences halls will open for upperclass students on Monday, August 29. Convocation and the lobster bake are expected to take place Tuesday, August 30.
The change was approved today at the faculty meeting after being proposed at the January 25 faculty meeting.
“The proposal is to allow students a chance right away to see what they think their schedule looks like, to start their courses,” Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Jim Higginbotham told the Orient after the proposal was first made to the faculty.
Under the old schedule, only 237 students were able to have their full schedule of classes during the first week of class. If classes had started on Wednesday, 1,565 students would have been able to attend all of their classes.
The extra day increases the number of classes students can attend before the add-drop deadline.