Today is Monday, Jan. 4. Classes are underway. Some are worrying about ordering textbooks. Others are searching for ways to stay awake during 8:30 a.m. classes.
If there is one point of universal agreement, it would probably be that Winter Break was not long enough. Such is a common complaint. But with classes starting on Monday for the first time in at least 13 years, students and faculty may have reason to be upset.
In the past two academic years, Elon has had 24 and 25 off-days, respectively. This year, however, Winter Break featured just 20 off-days.
There have been shorter breaks in the past, including a 17-day break in 2005-06. But classes still started on a Tuesday at the earliest.
The most common day of the week Winter Term classes have started has been Tuesday.
By comparison, 20 days off is one of the larger break periods. According to OnTrack, which has academic calendars available online dating back to 2003-04, the average break is 19.6 days. Only three breaks of the last 13 years have been longer than 20 days.
Since classes started early in the month, they will end Friday, Jan. 22, which is the earliest date within the past 12 academic years.
Winter Term examinations are scheduled for Monday, Jan. 25 with final grades due Wednesday, Jan. 27 by noon. Classes can be added or dropped until Wednesday, and students can withdraw by Thursday, Jan. 14.