We upperclassmen are familiar by now with the breaks and vacations of the SUNY system campuses being out of sync with each other. My twin brother at Fredonia will miss me by one day this year once again as spring break rolls around. And the upcoming winter break carries similar frustrations.
Freshmen, you're in for a treat. Friends you went to high school with will go through a great deal of coordinating to find out when everyone arrives home from their respective SUNY campuses.
You might not realize it yet, but you're going to find yourselves going home a week before, or after, most everyone else.
A synchronized vacation schedule for spring, summer and winter break across the SUNY system would not only help undergraduates get back together at home, but it could also facilitate SUNY system-wide programs or events. Think about it-a workshop, concert or guest speaker available to every SUNY student on the same day.
Also, not having to wait two weeks to see your friends who chose a campus on the other side of the state.
Don't hold your breath, though. Here's how it works right now:
A committee at nearly every campus decides, two or three years in advance, what's most cost-effective for energy saving and other factors like traffic. These committees try to get students off campus just in time to miss the high heating and electricity bills of winter.
I understand that finances are important, but I don't think it should be the end-all of deciding factors.
The school's president or vice-president approves the schedule, which gets passed off to another committee. Most campuses have no vehicle for student input in the process.
If it's too much to expect a SUNY-wide vacation committee, can't we at least have a say in the matter?
Dissenters predict disastrously chaotic traffic for synchronized vacation schedules. With every student leaving campus at the same time, the highways would flood, they say.
But every Thanksgiving, students leave around the same time. That's a busy day for the thruway, but it's nothing Earth-shattering. Anyway, with a week or two of finals, the student exodus would be spread out over a healthy span of time.
Cortland, Stony Brook and Oswego all cited "individual needs" and other vague terminology for reasons behind their scheduling. Different students and programs need different parts of the year, their registrars and secretaries say.
Representatives at Cortland, for example, described internships and summer programs that have just always taken place during a certain week of the year.
I don't think it would really hurt to push things back a week, or forward.
New Paltz is on top of the issue. Student input in their scheduling process has already gotten the campus a proposal for a Black Solidarity holiday. If their suggestion goes through, the entire campus will enjoy a holiday created by students.
But we shouldn't stop there.
"Student input" should allow us to request breaks at the same time as our brothers at Fredonia, or our friends all over the state. I'm not saying we should have the ability to create any vacation we want, but it's certainly worth considering that SUNY students would enjoy time off together.
Make inquiries to student life, and pay a visit to SUNY's Web site at www.suny.edu. They don't have a feedback form for vacations and breaks (the closest thing is "student concerns"), but your responses will still be reviewed.
Ask campus representatives about the academic calendar committee, and suggest to them what you'd like out of your vacation.
This holiday season, I plan on enjoying the snow of Syracuse and some great home-cooked meals. If I have to wait a week or two to see my friends, it's not that big a deal.
I'm used to it.
But I don't think that's the way it has to be. Maybe someday, we can all expect a more "friendly" SUNY system.
