As part of the ongoing efforts to persuade the faculty to end the exam calendar debacle, the student councils have decided that numbers just might be persuasive and have created a PowerPoint presentation to outline just how many ways ending exams on December 23rd makes no sense. Instead, the presentation calls for starting the school year one week earlier in years when Labor Day falls on September 5th or later, including 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2020.

The bullet points, from a survey of 745 undergraduates:

  • 51% of students left campus on December 23rd, and 52% of students paid more to travel home last semester, with 20% paying over $500.
  • 78% of students said the late end to the semester interrupted family plans.
  • 33% of students had to travel to the west coast or internationally for Winter Break.
  • In slightly less serious findings, about 60% of students reported feeling unprepared for 1 or 2 finals, and 90% said they would have used a third study day to, well,  study more. Only 58% said they would’ve slept more, which, frankly, seems biologically difficult at best.

Stay tuned for a full round up of last night’s CCSC developments later today.

– JCD