The ISU Faculty Senate voted to offer a new academic calendar proposal to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy instead of selecting between two previously proposed calendars.

The decision was expected to be between Calendar A, the existing academic calendar, and Calendar B, which would add one week to winter break. Calendar B would also increase classes held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday by five minutes and classes held on Tuesday and Thursday by five to ten minutes.

Instead of selecting between Calendar A and Calendar B, the senate voted in favor of an amended version of Calendar A at its meeting Tuesday. This option, which is similar to the existing calendar, would add one week to winter break and therefore push the end of the spring semester back one week. The amended Calendar A would make the ISU academic calendar the same as the University of Iowa’s. Faculty senators were in favor of this calendar because it addressed complaints about Calendars A and B.

Faculty Senate President Jack Girton said the new proposal was “like adopting Option A, but with one change.”

Senators proposed this new option, referred to as Calendar A modified, because it would prevent spring break from interrupting second-half classes in the spring semester. Some academic departments had expressed concern that adding time to classes would not atone for taking one week off the semester.

Jim Hutter, associate professor of political science, explained the concerns with the previously proposed plans.

“Plan A has been soundly rejected by the senate in the past, and Plan B is a plan to get a week back, but it discombobulates everything,” Hutter said.

Calendar A was rejected by the senators by a vote of 33-27, and Calendar B was voted down 41-23. Although Calendar A modified was accepted by a vote of 57-13, this did not end discussion on the issue.

Calendar A modified is very close to Calendar D, the fourth of four original calendar proposals and one of the two proposals that were eliminated from consideration. Calendar A modified is also very close to a Faculty Senate resolution from April 2002 that the senate accepted by a vote of 36 to 22. The primary difference is that Calendar A modified specifically states that the academic year will stay the same except the start of the spring semester will be pushed back a week, while the 2002 resolution did not explicitly guarantee keeping a 15-month academic calendar.

Some senators voiced concerns that offering Geoffroy a new proposal very similar to an already rejected proposal might take the decision-making power out of the faculty’s hands.

Hutter was adamant the senate not leave the academic calendar decision to anyone else, saying the calendar committee had moved spring break up a week without the senate’s input. “This is our decision to make,” he said.

Girton also gave a brief speech on the need for faculty to be active in finding solutions for the budget cuts Iowa State has suffered.

“If the faculty wants to be part of the decision, then we need to give input,” Girton said.