Dear Mrs. Demnitz,

Thank you for your email regarding the length of this year's Winter Break.

I will bring your request to the attention of the University Senate's Executive Committee at its next meeting.

Establishing the academic calendar is a longstanding and ongoing challenge, and one that involves many factors, including national and religious holidays, requirements for numbers of instructional contact hours each semester, the days of the week on which certain dates fall each year (e.g., New Year's Day), and many others. The calendar also needs to be announced -- and therefore established -- well in advance so Rutgers students and their families, as well as Rutgers employees, can anticipate and plan schedules. Unfortunately, this means that it is not likely that any adjustments could be made to this year's academic calendar at this time.

However, rest assured that your request will be discussed by the Senate's Executive Committee next month. Members of that committee with more direct academic-calendar experience than my own will consider and decide what is possible, and I will respond to you afterward.

Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate