The faculty’s Educational Policy Committee (EPC), which is currently working on the calendar for the next five-year cycle, is considering shortening winter break by one week beginning in the winter of 2014-2015. This change would make the break approximately four weeks long and would cause the spring term to begin and end one week earlier than in the current calendar. The University’s winter break currently lasts approximately 40 days.

The potential move has sparked debate among members of the Wesleyan community on the merits of the extended break period and has even prompted University President Michael Roth to mention the possibility of new January programs in a recent blog entry.

The benefits of a longer break have been enumerated by several members of the University community. Many faculty members utilize winter break to do research and plan for future classes.

“The winter break is a major period for my general productivity,” Associate Professor of Film Studies Scott Higgins wrote in an email to The Argus. “Scholarship (researching and writing, participating in conferences, publishing in general) is a required part of every faculty member’s employment. […] The complication is that, for me anyway, writing a book takes enormous chunks of un-interrupted time. […] It becomes virtually impossible to make headway on major projects during the semester, when my first priority is working with Wesleyan students.”

Roth reaffirmed Higgins’ sentiment in his blog post.

“For those on campus, there is anything but a ‘January break,’” Roth wrote. “I see faculty members in the library, studios, labs and departmental offices busily trying to finish some of their research and their class preparation. Many of our professors have been at professional meetings sharing their scholarship, visiting archives, or just writing one more paper.”

Higgins, for example, used the break to develop a Coursera class and to complete a book. He said that he values the separation between working on his other projects and putting his full efforts into teaching classes.

“Restarting a book project after months and months of neglect takes a terrible amount of time and energy,” Higgins wrote. “That said, winter break isn’t really ever long enough. […] Things like Coursera can be fun and, I think, important for Wesleyan—but I don’t want them to even begin to challenge my time spent with Wes students, so it is a matter of cramming it into the break and finishing quickly.”

For student athletes, winter break provides essential time to train. Laura Mead ’16, a hockey player, said that the long break gave her time she needed to concentrate on only sports.

“Staying on campus was helpful,” Mead said. “It allowed me to focus on games and practice without the additional stress of school. It was actually a relaxing time.”

Laura Corcoran ’16, also a hockey player, expressed a different sentiment.

“I disliked the length of the break,” Corcoran said. “I felt it was a long time to be on campus with many necessary facilities unavailable to us. For example, we were given money but not enough to truly support ourselves throughout the break.”

Among the students who spent break away from the University, some believe that break is a waste of students’ time.

“The break was about a week too long,” Molly Zuckerman ’16 noted. “I didn’t really do much and didn’t have much focus because five weeks isn’t enough time to get a job but too much time to sit around all day.”

In contrast, several non-athletes appreciated the relaxing weeks of winter break.

“I thought the length of the break was perfect,” Riley Loftus ’16 said. “It was pretty much the same as most other schools and a good amount of time to hang out with my friends and family.”

Dean Michael Whaley explained that the EPC will take into account student opinions.

“[The EPC] is taking into consideration feedback collected via a survey of the Wesleyan community (including staff, students and faculty) last spring,” Whaley wrote in an email to The Argus. “Obviously, no single calendar and break schedule will be right for everyone, but the faculty are weighing the various options.”