• Each Semester will contain 14 full weeks of classes and an additional six days for final exams. (Note: in general, it is unacceptable (and contrary to state statute) to reduce the length of the semester. In particular, lab classes which have sections meeting each day of the week lose an entire week’s worth of instructional time whenever a single class is lost).

• Each semester must include a minimum of 12 complete calendar weeks (Monday-Friday) to accommodate multi-sectioned laboratory courses (which rely on Friday afternoons and weekends for the weekly set-up and breakdown tasks).

• In general, the Fall semester begins on September 1. However, when the 1^st is a Friday (and Labor Day occurs the following Monday), we begin the day after Labor Day. Also, to prevent classes from being held on the Wednesday evening prior to the Thanksgiving break (and hence preventing housing residents from leaving until Thanksgiving Day), the Fall semester will begin on August 31 during some years.

• The exam period will end no later than December 23 (before the Winter break).

• Every semester will include two-day reading periods (except when a 2^nd day will require that the Fall semester continue after the Winter break or begin a calendar week early).

• The Wednesday before Thanksgiving will be designated as a Friday (a so-called "Carvel" day) for scheduling purposes since there are no Friday evening classes, thus allowing extra time for Thanksgiving holiday travel. In some years, no classes will be held that day.

• The Rutgers University academic calendar will coincide with the academic calendars at New Jersey Institute of Technology and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in order to facilitate joint program activities between the three institutions. Because there are Rutgers faculty teaching at more than one Rutgers campus, the three Rutgers campuses must also have identical calendars.

• The Spring Semester will start on the Tuesday after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (3^rd Monday in January). This allows for an expected winter break for students and faculty, in which planned vacations, jobs, or short courses can be taken. The break also provides time to process (advise and register) new and transfer students, receive grades from off-campus classes, and complete other administrative, academic, and general housekeeping tasks before students and faculty return to campus.

• There will be a one-week, continuous Spring Break period.

• The Spring semester will end in early May, and exams in early-mid May, in order to accommodate a full 8 days between the end of exams and commencement. This is necessary to allow sufficient time for faculty to submit grades (two days), for the Registrar to process transcripts, and for the College Deans to resolve problems involving graduation. Thus, exams cannot end on a Thursday or Friday if the Registrar is to have time over the weekend to input grades and generate and distribute hardcopy transcripts. In addition, it is unacceptable for there to be more than 8 days between the end of exams and Commencement; otherwise, graduating seniors who live in student housing will need to spend an extra weekend on campus, and the offices of housing, dining, transportation, security, resident life, and student life will need to hire staff, in some cases on overtime, to accommodate the additional days, with additional costs to students for extra meals, housing, etc.

• Because the Spring schedule allows only 5 weekdays for exams (rather than 6, as in the Fall), some exams will be scheduled for the Sunday of exam week. The Scheduling Office will schedule the least populated class periods for these exams.

• Commencement will occur prior to Memorial Day and prior to the start of Summer Session in order to allow for maximum presence of faculty and students at the exercises. Commencement will not conflict with major, recognized religious holidays.

February 7, 2000