Written by Jessica Ardrey
Every year, at the end of the fall semester, every student’s mind is fixated on two things: final exams and going home. It seems the former is not far enough away, and the latter cannot get here fast enough. The fact that “home” is so unobtainable makes it that much more desirable.
Because of this feeling, some students anxiously look to their friends at other universities and wonder why they get out for Christmas before Harding students do. In their distress, they may point fingers at the administration and start throwing around blame and harsh sentiments.
One of the major issues students begrudge is that, at three weeks, their Christmas break is too short. “We used to have four,” they may complain.
Vice President and Dean of Students David Collins said this issue is a rumor and dispelled it.
Typically, Harding’s Christmas break is about three weeks long. Some years, however, due solely to where the days on the calendar happen to fall, Harding will have four weeks off. This is not the norm.
“The perspective of some, especially those fairly new to campus, in the year or two following a four-week Christmas break is that the typical breakis four weeks and someone has made a decision to take away a week of Christmas break,” Collins said.
That mysterious week is not missing: It is in August. The key for administrators is to find a balance. If Christmas is longer, summer is shorter, and vice versa.
According to Collins, students differ in preference as to where the magic week should be.
“I find it interesting how many students can’t wait to finish finals and will head home within minutes of finishing their last exam; then they will not return to campus until the last minute Sunday evening before classes begin the next day,” Collins said. “On the other hand, a number of students will be in no hurry to leave for home and then return to campus the minute the residence halls open back on Friday morning before classes the next Monday.”
Other factors such as state regulations and when Christmas Day, New Years’, federal holidays and summer school sessions fall on the calendar all come into play when scheduling Christmas break.
The other major issue is that school lets out so close to Christmas. Harding usually tries to set the date for December graduation a week before Christmas at the latest. They tried the policy of setting the date for no later than Dec. 18, but that did not work perfectly either.
The main contributor to this problem is Thanksgiving break. That week is non-negotiable. It will vary every year no matter what Harding’s schedule looks like. This year students returned from Thanksgiving on Nov. 30. That pushed the three remaining weeks deeper into December.
“Sometimes we find ourselves returning from that break with only one week of classes and then finals,” Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Larry Long said. “That puts tremendous pressure on students to complete papers, projects and exams before turning right around and going into finals.”
Despite what students think, arranging the official school calendar is extremely complicated. It takes into consideration a long list of elements, Long said, “weighting them in regard to who is helped and who is hurt, then making the best decision that can be made.”
Even after the students are all gone, the work on campus does not stop.
“This helps the students, we think, even though it means many of our staff, especially those in the registrar’s office, will be working up to Christmas Eve getting grades collected, recorded and reports run,” Long said. “That is important university business and must be completed before the university closes for the holidays.”
