A joint committee of the Michigan Student Assembly and LSA Student Government has drafted a recommendation for a fall study break in mid-October that is awaiting administrative approval before it can be implemented next year.

The proposed fall study break would change the academic calendar by starting the fall term one day earlier the day after Labor Day and adding a two-day break a Monday and Tuesday during the second or third week of October.

"For any academic calendar change, the normal process is for the registrar to approve the change, send it to the provost, and have the provost propose it to the (University Board of Regents)," said MSA President Matt Nolan.

"We"re creating a two-day break, giving students more time to study for midterms and work on papers and projects, which will consequently improve the mental and physical health and the academic quality of work done at this university," Nolan added.

After analyzing all of the University"s actual and proposed academic calendars from 1992 to 2009, MSA concluded that calendars for future academic years will have fall and winter semesters of roughly the same length even with the inclusion of a fall break.

One of the concerns voiced by critics of the fall break proposal was that it would make the fall semester shorter than the winter semester.

However, last fall, 78 percent of students who voted in the LSA-SG election said they would support changing the calendar to include a fall break, Nolan said.

MSA and LSA-SG have the backing of an important ally in the administration.

"I"m going to work to help (Nolan) make this idea become a reality," said Lester Monts, senior vice provost for academic affairs.

Monts said it is difficult to say whether the fall break will be added to next year"s academic calendar because it would require that the regents, housing and the faculty approve the change.

The regents have already approved the academic calendars for the next two academic years.

These calendars would need to be amended to accommodate a fall study break. The 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic year calendars are to be adopted by the regents at their February or March meeting.

Nolan"s target date for a vote on the amended calendars is the December regents" Meeting.

Nolan said academic calendars were amended in 1995, 1996 and 1998, so changing next year"s calendar would not be a new process.

"We have great support from Fleming, and the provost"s office is more or less in favor of the concept," Nolan said.

At a meeting yesterday, the Senate Advisory Committee on Academic Affairs expressed concern about the logistics of a fall break.

Even though the amended calendar would not significantly change the number of class days or Monday/Wednesday classes when compared to Tuesday/Thursday classes, some SACUA members were still wary of having fewer Monday classes at the beginning of the fall semester as opposed to the end of the semester.

MSA will vote on recommending its proposal to faculty, administrators and the regents at its regular meeting a week from today.

"We are constantly hearing MSA should do something that affects students," Nolan said. "I see this as MSA taking an issue students have asked us to change and turning it into something real."