While most students see the weeklong Thanksgiving break as a light at the end of a tunnel, Penn State President Graham Spanier said at Tuesday's Faculty Senate meeting that it may be time for the university to reconsider the lengthy vacation.
In his comments to the senate, Spanier brought up Penn State's current weeklong Thanksgiving break. After noticing that a fair number of faculty and students depart campus early for the holiday break, often missing classes scheduled on the Friday before Thanksgiving, Spanier said the weeklong vacation may be worth shortening.
Lee Coraor, chairman of the faculty senate, said possible scheduling changes were not on the meeting agenda but will be looked into by the university planning committee as a result of Spanier's remarks. The Faculty Senate has no plans at this point to implement any new changes.
"We don't have hard data on this," Coraor said. "He took an informal survey of students. I haven't heard any complaints, but since the president brought it up, we'll take a look."
Although Spanier said the majority of students he surveyed do not attend class the Friday before the Thanksgiving break, Penn State spokesman Geoff Rushton said changing the schedule would be a large undertaking.
"This is something that has been discussed for years," Rushton said. "Administrators and faculty will have to take a look at what attendance is like. I'm sure there will be a discussion about it."
However, Rushton said there are no specific plans in place at the moment.
Spanier also fielded a question on the new student seating in Beaver Stadium.
Faculty Senator James Strauss asked Spanier if student preferences were taken into account regarding changes to seating for the 2011 season.
After receiving complaints from fans about an obstructed view during games because of students standing on the bleachers, the university devised a new plan that will provide students with 800 new seats, Spanier said. Because more students will now be seated near the south end zone, they will be able to stand on the bleachers without blocking the view of non-student ticket holders.
"Dr. Spanier said the new seating for 2011 does help to address that problem," Rushton said. "We are well behind our peer institutions in having a seating formula like this."
