Seattle University is currently in the process of reconsidering its academic schedule for the 2026-2027 academic year. During fall quarter, Provost Shane Martin organized a committee with a variety of voices across campus to discuss potential issues with the current academic calendar, and explore potential changes. 

Tamara Herdener, senior vice provost for academic and student affairs, who is chairing the committee, said that they hope an official decision will be reached by early spring quarter. The committee is not exploring the possibility of switching to a semester system, but instead exploring ways the quarter system could be improved to benefit students. 

“One challenge, for example, is that there’s a really short amount of time between when students come back after Thanksgiving break and when they leave for winter break,” Herdener said. “That’s a burden on students financially with airline tickets, it’s a burden in terms of it’s harmful to the environment and part of our mission is to be doing what we can to preserve our planet, and then also students come back sick, because they’re traveling and they’re exposed to a lot during travel.”

The committee identified several issues within Seattle U’s current academic schedule, including the gap between fall and winter break. The committee also noted the difficulties for both faculty and students with the quick turnaround between winter and spring quarter, as well as how quickly classes begin after students return from winter break. 

Another issue noted by the committee is the fact that many internships begin in May, before students’ summer break begins. The committee has also discussed the fact that because many other schools competing with Seattle U athletically are on the semester system, there are Seattle U games held in August and September before classes begin, meaning little to no audience for Seattle U student athletes. 

“We actually have a nice amount of students, first-time students or transfers, that start winter quarter, and there’s very little time for staff and our student orientation leaders to orient those students before classes begin,” Herdener said, speaking to the short time between returning from winter break and the start of winter quarter classes. 

The committee has examined a variety of possible alternative schedules. One large potential change would see the fall quarter begin a week earlier, and end at Thanksgiving break, with Thanksgiving and winter break combined into one longer break between fall and winter quarter. 

This change would also see the school year end a week earlier in June. Along with this, the committee has considered the idea of a December intersession, where students could take a class for credit during winter break. 

Other potential changes include lengthening spring break. 

Ashwath Srinivasan, a third-year computer science major, expressed support for the idea of one larger break after the fall quarter. 

“If I think about my friends, like East Coast, or really just not on the West Coast, a lot of those guys start in August and we start in the middle of September, so I am anyways having two weeks at home where none of my friends are there and I’m not really doing much, so I do think it could be cool both to start earlier and then have this super long break where you could really do something with that time,” Srinivasan said. 

Herdener explained that Seattle U has a requirement to meet a certain number of instructional days in an academic year, explaining that with the proposed changes, quarters could be up to five days shorter. To meet the required instructional time, classes would have to be made longer, although Herdener said the increased length would likely only be around five minutes. 

A decision has not yet been reached on what changes to the schedule will be implemented, or whether there will be any changes at all. The committee has been in the process of consulting a variety of voices representing different groups on campus who would be affected by these changes. 

“We’re just getting input right now from different groups. We’ve gone to staff council, we’ve gone to SGSU, we’ve presented to GSC, we’ve presented to the academic assembly, faculty, the deans council, lots of different groups on campus. I think we’ve actually gone to every entity on campus to talk about this,” Herderner said. 

According to Herderner, students responded very positively to the idea of being released earlier in June, specifically because it will open up more internships and other career opportunities, as well as responding positively to the idea of a combined Thanksgiving and winter break. 

The main concern comes from shortening the academic quarter. Many students and professors already feel the quarter passes by quickly, with a large amount of content to cover in a short time. 

“I don’t feel like my classes are too dense for the most part. There are definitely some [computer science] courses that feel a little bit dense where that could be a tight squeeze,” Srinivasan said. 

Although he understands this concern, Srinivasan did overall express support for shorter academic quarters. 

Jordan discussed the ways he would have to adjust his class structure to fit a shorter quarter. 

“Let me put it this way. I can make it work, but I would like to have more information about what problem we’re solving with this change before I felt comfortable with the change,” Jordan said. 

Although clarifying that he hasn’t followed the details of the committee’s decision-making process, Jordan is unsure if the tradeoff of fewer instructional days is worth it. He explained he hadn’t noticed the gap between Thanksgiving and winter break having a large effect on his students.

Although no actual changes are yet to be confirmed, Herdener has seen benefits to the committee process itself. 

“It’s been a good exercise though, because even if it doesn’t get approved, it’s really helped students, faculty and staff understand from a student perspective where the challenges lie with the quarter system and how we might be able to do some things to be more supportive of students and staff and faculty,” Herdener said. 

Next fall, the schedule will remain as it is posted on the school’s website. There’s still time for students, faculty and administration to contemplate the merits of a change to the quarter structure. Regardless of what the committee decides, the campus community’s concerns over the current schedule will linger as fall quarter 2025 gets underway.