By: Jonathan Franklin, Senior Writer
While a majority of your friends from back in your hometown start and end classes before you, have their breaks at different times than you or even have national holidays that you don’t off from class, you may often think “Why is Wofford’s academic calendar designed the way it is?”
Planning in terms of preparation and setting dates for the college’s academic calendar begins months in advance and relies on a series of events and circumstances in order to solidify the needs for Wofford’s faculty, staff and students – including: tradition, history of the college, Wofford’s football team and Spartanburg School District 7 and their academic calendar.
As a part of tradition, Wofford prides itself on starting fall semester classes on Labor Day, the first Monday in September. However, fall semester classes for the 2015-2016 term began on Aug. 31, which was a first for the college.
“Historically, we have always started on Labor Day. This year, however, Labor Day fell so late, which would have pushed us to finish the fall semester on Dec. 20, and most students would prefer to be home, and faculty would prefer to have their grades done by then, so this year we decided to move it up to make the holiday schedule on the back end a little bit better,” says College Registrar Jennifer Allison.
For the planning and implementation of the academic calendar, many factors are considered before presenting the calendar to President’s Cabinet and releasing it to the public, including major factors such as:
- Where fall break can fit in the schedule and matching the break with the Wofford football home and away schedule.
- Spartanburg County School District 7 and where their spring break falls in their academic calendar; once their spring break is determined – which is around mid-November – the college’s falls along the same week.
On the front end, things will resume back to tradition for future school terms for the college, particularly referencing the upcoming school year.
“For the 2016-2017 school term, the calendar will go back to the way it’s been in previous years,” says Provost Dennis Wiseman.
Students agree that Wofford’s academic calendar brings a sense of uniqueness in comparison to other collegiate institutions – by starting later, having a month dedicated to Interim and ending a week or two later than most institutions.
“Wofford’s academic calendar is unique in that it offers more opportunities to explore different areas of learning by strategically scheduling holidays and keeping a routine schedule for registration and exams. Not many other schools do it, but I love it,” says junior Jose Gallegos.
Sophomore Olivia Orme agrees with Gallegos.
“I think it’s cool that we start late and end late – it sets us apart from other institutions,” says Orme.
Other students however, feel differently about the lack of holiday observances and shortened breaks.
“I know we don’t get a long of a fall break due to us starting late, but it would be nice to have the Friday and the Monday off for fall break,” says sophomore Addison Timmons.
In comparison to public institutions such as Clemson University and University of South Carolina, which abide by the state in terms of their academic calendar, private institutions including Wofford have the ability and freedom in terms of planning and implementing their academic calendar.
“Most of our decisions in regards to the calendar are based in practice and logic (and tradition), while being considerate of where the faculty, staff and students are,” says Allison.
Wofford College Academic Calendar for the 2015-2016, noting the change of fall semester classes starting on Aug. 31st versus the Labor Day holiday.