Principia College kicked off the semester with an extended weekend after adding Labor Day to this year’s academic calendar. The change also shifted the schedule for finals week.
The traditional three-day format of finals week, taking place on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, no longer exists. Week 16 will now hold regular classes on Monday, followed by a newly added reading day on Tuesday, and then the usual three days of final exams will bring the semester to a close.
“I drafted several options of what the semester could look like if we started after Labor Day [and] if [we] started before Labor Day, but took it as a holiday,” said Ashley Grindstaff, executive assistant of the academic dean. “We needed to add a Monday back into the calendar.”
The remodeled version of finals week was introduced to compensate for the Monday lost to Labor Day.
Grindstaff explained that Mondays are particularly tricky because there are classes that only meet on Mondays. So, by taking a Monday out of the calendar without replacing it somewhere else, that class would have a full week fewer than others. According to the academic dean, each course is measured by what they call contact hours, and they should be roughly even.
The schedule change was not related to federal funding requirements. The observance of Labor Day was implemented as a Human Resources Office initiative, before Principia officials were aware of federal funding approval, and the change to finals week was to maintain balanced contact hours for all courses.
The decision to add Labor Day to the academic calendar was made a year and a half ago by the HR office, the College Executive Committee, and the Board of Trustees. It was the result of feedback received through an annual employee satisfaction survey before Principia was officially approved for federal funding.
“We knew we had to make a decision far in advance so the calendar could be edited in time,” said Jen Silver, chief human resources officer.
Silver said the decision reflects HR’s effort to improve employee benefits and create a more supportive workplace. The update combines programs into one for all employees and adds more paid time off.
This is not the first time the Principia community has observed Labor Day.
“When I was a new employee at the college in 1988, Labor Day was a paid holiday for employees, and students had the day off,” recalled Karen Eisenauer, a 37-year Principia employee and executive assistant to the president’s office.
She said employees unable to take the day off because of work responsibilities were encouraged to find another day during the academic year to trade for Labor Day. “There were so many employees trading days that it became complicated to keep track of, and the number of employees who could actually take the day off got smaller each year,” she added.
Even so, many students and faculty said they appreciated the extended weekend.
“Personally, I like [having] Labor Day off. I mean, it does feel a little weird to start school and then immediately have the day off, but, overall, I think it is nice, especially for employees,” Mail Services Coordinator Ben Geis said.
