Students like the current calendar, while a majority of faculty favor a move to Calendar B. These are the results of an online poll used to gather feedback on a proposed change to the academic calendar.

The poll received responses from 514 students, faculty and staff combined. The information from the poll was submitted to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy Friday. He is expected to make his decision in December on which calendar the university will use.

Arne Hallam, professor and chair of economics and agriculture and chairman of the academic calendar task force, said the earliest the next calendar would be implemented fall of 2005.

There was an overall preference for Calendar A in the online comments, according to a report from Geoffroy’s Academic Calendar Task Force. Calendar A is the current academic calendar. Calendar B proposes semesters be shortened by a week to allow for an extra week during winter break and longer class periods to make up for the loss of a week during semesters.

The report showed 53 percent of respondents favored Calendar A and 47 percent favored Calendar B. Staff and students preferred Calendar A, while faculty preferred Calendar B by nearly two to one.

Results of an online poll held last spring indicated a majority of students, faculty and staff had favored changing the current calendar.

The Faculty Senate voted 57-13 Tuesday night to recommend an amended version of Calendar A be implemented. The proposal, referred to as the “A+” proposal, would make winter break four weeks long, instead of the current three weeks. The Faculty Senate stated the extra week during winter break would give faculty the opportunity to attend professional meetings typically held during the first week of spring semester.

“From the 500 comments we’ve received, there is no indication A is strongly favored as has been seen from the votes from GSB and Faculty Senate,” Hallam said.

The report also said GSB’s vote to keep the current calendar was inconsistent with the response of students to the spring online poll.

“I was not actually surprised GSB would vote for A, because students generally have never liked a long winter break,” said Hallam.

He said he was more surprised, however, with the Faculty Senate’s vote.

“I knew there were some faculty that didn’t like A, but from what I could tell, a majority of faculty favored B,” Hallam said.

Having more time to look over the proposals probably led students to change their minds and favor Calendar B, Hallam said.

“I think they changed their minds now, because before I think they didn’t think about semesters being shorter and more intense under the Calendar B proposal,” he said.

Both GSB and the Professional and Scientific Council voted on resolutions recommending Calendar A be kept. GSB voted 23-5-1 at its meeting Wednesday in favor of the current calendar, and the Professional and Scientific Council voted unanimously, 27-0.

The Professional and Scientific Council said timing is not good to cover the cost of implementing a change because of mid-year budget cuts. The body also said the staggered class start time in Calendar B creates too many scheduling headaches.

Mason Frey, freshman in liberal arts and sciences, said he prefers the way things currently are with the academic calendar. Frey said he likes the current 50-minute classes, and would rather have a longer summer than a longer winter break.

“I can get jobs more easily in the summer than in the winter.” Frey said. “That extra week during summer is a couple of hundred more dollars for me.”

Kristeena Williams, senior in accounting, agreed.

“I wouldn’t want to do more things in a shorter amount of time under Calendar B. I don’t need more stuff to do,” Williams said. “Three weeks is enough for me.”