As Thanksgiving break approaches, many UW-Madison students become aware this is UW-Madison's first break and feel slighted from not receiving additional days off. Yet, UW-Madison has a longer winter break than most Big Ten schools, which balances vacation time.
Many Big Ten schools, including UW-Madison, grant study days to students before finals to prepare for exams. However, UW-Madison's study day usually falls on a weekend.
\Sometimes [study days do fall on a week day] because of the timing of when we can start the fall semester and when we must end it,"" said David Musolf, UW-Madison secretary of the faculty.
Yet, Northwestern University allows students in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the equivalent of UW-Madison's School of Letters and Sciences, a week off before finals, according to Judy Moore, associate editor of public relations at Northwestern.
""[This reading week] is a reflection of similar practices at many fine universities-Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.,"" Associate Provost at Northwestern Stephen Fisher said in an e-mail. ""It allows students a time for extended writing and reflection before exams.""
Despite the appeal of this one- week break, it is not a possibility at UW-Madison, Musolf said. According to state legislation, UW-Madison cannot start classes before Sept. 1 and must end classes, final exams and commencement before Christmas Eve, he said.
In addition, equivalent semesters and an equal balance of Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday classes also prevent UW-Madison from having more days off.
Also, UW-Madison follows a semester system rather than a quarter system like other Big Ten schools such as Northwestern and Ohio State. Therefore, UW-Madison's winter break is roughly a week longer than some Big Ten Schools, such as Purdue University, which starts January classes eight days earlier than UW-Madison.
According to Musolf, the only other possibility to gain more study days would be to shorten winter break and return to a week of classes followed by final exams in January. Though UW-Madison has done this in past years, he said it is undesirable.
A certain number of student services days, such as advising days, class days and exam days, must also fit in the time frame between Sept. 2 and Dec. 23, Musolf said.
UW-Madison sophomore Jon Barnett said he is annoyed by UW-Madison's short Thanksgiving break and lack of fall break.
""But the fact that our winter break is ridiculously long kind of makes up for it,"" he said.
