Last Updated on December 6, 2021 by YGK News Staff
Following a Senate vote on Nov 30th, Queen’s says that it will now make its fall break a permanent fixture in its academic calendar. The decision was swayed by a campus-wide survey involving just under 8,000 students.
“We had a fantastic response rate to our survey from students, faculty, and staff, and we found overwhelming support for making fall term break a permanent part of the academic calendar going forward,” wrote William Nelson, Co-Chair of the Fall Term Break Task Force and Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Arts and Science.
“Students, in particular, let us know that a fall break is beneficial for their mental health, as it allows them to relax, rest, catch up on work, and, in some cases, visit friends and family back home. Queen’s has listened to this feedback and is pleased to take action in support of our community’s health and wellness.”
The fall term break will occur immediately following thanksgiving Monday, with the start of classes beginning the Tuesday after Labour Day.
Students at Queen’s have been calling for a fall reading week since at least 2007 when the question was brought for a student referendum, but failed. Support began building for a fall reading after the University of Ottawa and several other universities began implementing reading week in 2011.
UBC is the latest university to implement a fall reading week in November 2021, citing mental health.
The full report from the Queen’s Fall Break task force can be found here.
