By Richard Williams, Staff Writer
St. Bonaventure University announced changes to the 2021 spring semester schedule last week to adapt to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The schedule was developed by the university’s COVID-19 task force, which features students, as well as deans and other university officials.
“The schedule we came up with was a compromise between the faculty and the students,” said Dr. Joseph Zimmer, the university provost and member of the COVID-19 task force. “The students wanted to have days off and the faculty wanted to minimize the risk, that’s how we ended up with the schedule. We had two schedules that we presented to the faculty senate and the one that was approved was the first one to be voted on.”
One of the major changes to the schedule was the elimination of a full, weeklong spring break. Instead, the task force scheduled five “class-free” weekdays throughout the spring semester, including one on Good Friday.
“We shouldn’t take away our spring break yet because of COVID,” said Alexis Mena, a freshman computer science major at Bonaventure. “We don’t know if COVID is still going to be a problem then.”
“I feel like it should be flexible. We should wait. Not just say this is it, this is what the spring semester is going to be,” said Mena.
The university argued the schedule was put together for a reason.
“Since we had to put the class schedule together so early so students could register for classes, we had to plan for the worst with COVID,” said Zimmer.
While some students were not happy about the schedule change, others were indifferent to the new calendar.
“The good thing is they gave us Good Friday off which is very helpful because I am planning on going home for Easter,” said Adam O’Donoghue, a freshman adolescent education major. “I like that they’re compensating for spring break by giving us days off, but I don’t like how they are spread out. I am not a fan of it being on a random Tuesday.”
Some faculty members also share support for the new schedule.
“The new schedule does a good job of balancing the need to stay safe with the need for breaks throughout the semester, even if it is just one day on a Wednesday,” said Dr. Lori Henning, an assistant professor of History.
The new schedule has students beginning classes for the spring semester on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. This is one week later than the original start date of Jan. 19, 2021.
The 2020 Fall semester is still set to conclude in-person instruction on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020.
williarj20@bonaventure.edu
