Calendar issue put to vote

The faculty debate over whether to switch from quarters to
semesters is coming to a close as Academic Senate committees submit
reports, and the 3,300 senate members register their votes on the
issue.

The vote of the senate is one of the last steps in the calendar
debate. After the voting is complete, the Senate Executive Board
makes a recommendation to Chancellor Albert Carnesale

For the first time ever, members of the senate will vote online.
The members of the senate, including current and emeriti faculty,
will submit their opinions on the calendar issue in addition to
voting on next year’s vice chair.

“They’re more plugged into their e-mail than they
are to their hard copy mail,” said senate Chief
Administrative Officer John Tucker.

Tucker said putting the vote in cyberspace will greatly reduce
costs in a time of budget crisis and will hopefully provide for a
better voter turnout.

The polls for the senate membership vote close on Friday, May
16, and the Senate Executive Board’s final recommendations
are scheduled to be sent to the chancellor by the end of Spring
quarter.

“He should be well informed about faculty position on the
semester question,” said senate Vice Chairman Clifford
Brunk.

Last week, five of the 22 standing senate committees began
submitting their reports on whether they think a switch would be
best for the university.

Committees whose topic of interest would be unaffected by a
switch, such as the Academic Freedom committee, opted not to
register a formal opinion.

The Intercollegiate Athletic Committee’s report, written
from a student athlete’s perspective, detailed the benefits
of staying with the quarter system. According to the report, the
benefits include a more manageable course load and more time at the
beginning of the school year to get ready for competition.

“Indeed, the increased overlap of academic and athletic
calendars for fall sports and the increased course load imposed by
the semester system suggests that the quarter system may be more
congenial to managing the arduous demands of athletics and
academics,” the report said.

A third town hall meeting was scheduled for May 1 to discuss the
departmental reports, but Tucker said that it was cancelled because
the reports had already been discussed extensively at the
Legislative Assembly meeting in April.

The Council on Planning and Budget cited costs for conversion of
key campus information systems and loss of revenue for Associated
Students of UCLA as some of their reasons for opposing a
conversion.

“Given the dire budget shortfall of the State of
California and UC, we conclude that the calendar transition
expenses would cause considerable financial hardship,” the
CPB report said.

The Faculty Executive Committee, which represents the College as
a whole, also submitted a general recommendation to stay with
quarters.

The FEC also submitted a report from each of the four divisions
of the College, and like the entire College, each of its divisions
were either “strongly” or “unanimously”
opposed to the idea of switching to semesters.

According to the Humanities division’s report, the most
frequent criticisms of the semester system from all departments
were the decreased course offerings and less curriculum
innovation.

The Physical Sciences division voiced a similar sentiment. It
also brought up the common concerns of cost and course flexibility,
as well as additional overarching issues.

“Budget cutbacks, space pressures and increasing
enrollment contribute to a climate of uncertainty. The conversion
process would exacerbate the situation,” the report read.

Two more reports from the Undergraduate and Graduate Councils
are set to come in some time this week.

The calendar debate was sparked in December when Carnesale wrote
a letter asking the Academic Senate to conduct an investigation as
to whether a switch to semesters would better facilitate the
University of California’s “tripartite mission of
teaching, research, and service.”

For full texts of the committee reports, visit the Academic
Senate Web site at www.senate.ucla.edu.