FILE PHOTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat ASUA President Doug Hartz takes attendance in a lecture hall prior to Thanksgiving in 2001. Hartz is working on creating a fall break after finding many students do not attendent class the week of Thanksgiving.

Student senators, president lobbying to institute break from classes for three days preceding Thanksgiving

If all goes as Student Body President Doug Hartz plans, UA students will have a full week in November to enjoy turkey and pie.

Hartz is pushing for fall break, a weeklong vacation for UA students set for the entire week of Thanksgiving. Hartz and other ASUA senators took attendance in their classes in the weeks prior to the week of Thanksgiving. They then took attendance again on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the holiday.

Fall Break · The break would give students the entire week of Thanksgiving off · The UA sets calendars two-years in advance, so the break could not take effect until 2004.

The results showed a trend that they had already expected; mass amounts of students leave for Thanksgiving early and miss class the week of the holiday.

"Most of all teachers cancel classes that week anyway," said Heather Wodrich, a studio art freshman. "Almost all mine did on Wednesday at least."

Fall Break was one of Hartz' top campaign promises when he made his bid for student body president last spring.

It seems logical to us. It would be a united student front. - Pete Morris Graduate Council President

Hartz and his cabinet of academic affairs are currently putting together background and logistical information about the need for fall break to present to the faculty and administration soon, said ASUA Senator Will Harris.

Hartz will provide documents and data, showing the general student support across campus, which was evident when more than 1,000 UA students signed a petition in support of the break, he said.

After presenting the idea to the faculty senate, the proposal will go to the board of regents where a final decision will be made.

For many students, that decision can make the difference between spending the holiday with family or alone.

"I'm from out of state. It doesn't make sense to go home for Thanksgiving now. If we had a break it would," said Liz Carroll, an anthropology freshman.

Graduate and Professional Student Council President Pete Morris said the idea of fall break also seems to be a good idea for graduate students who often travel further than undergraduates to go to school.

"It seems logical to us," Morris said. "It would be a united student front."

Morris said he doesn't expect a decision about fall break to be made until the tuition hearings, in either March or April.

Because the University sets calendars for a two-year period, fall break could not be implemented until the fall of 2004.

Furthermore, the university needs to fill a set number of hours in terms of compact hours for courses, Morris said. This means a change in the calendar would be required to make fall break possible.

"There's not really an immediate sense of urgency because this can't happen next year," Hartz said.

If fall break were passed, the days would likely be made up during the summer vacation.