Bowdoin College faculty members shoot down proposal that would extend Thanksgiving break to an entire week
The Bowdoin
December 9, 2011
Thanksgiving break will remain an eat-and-run affair after the faculty voted on Monday to keep the College's time off for turkey a brief three days.
Had it passed, the proposal would have extended Thanksgiving break—which currently starts on a Wednesday—to a full week. Faculty would have recovered the lost Monday and Tuesday by removing the Tuesday from fall break and converting the first Friday of the semester to a Monday/Wednesday schedule.
At this point, the decision is fairly cemented.
"There's always a chance that something could be done, but somebody has to step up. I'm not really optimistic," said Associate Professor of Psychology for Advising Suzanne Lovett, who helped pen the proposal.
Despite the results of a student body survey conducted by the College, which showed that 57 percent of students supported the proposal, faculty voted it down 47-28, with one abstention.
The College's survey revealed that a full 94 percent of students support an extension of Thanksgiving break, though 37 percent of those did not support the proposal as they wanted to maintain the length of fall break. The survey also showed that 84 percent of students would be able to travel home during a weeklong Thanksgiving break, as opposed to the 64 percent who return home under the current schedule. Sixty-five percent of the student body responded to the survey.
Some faculty said their departments would be particularly adversely affected by the proposal.
