University of Montana Provost Perry Brown is asking the campus community to weigh-in on a proposal to shorten winter break. Brown says the UM has one of the longest winter Breaks in the U.S.

"If people are on a quarter system like the west coast schools, they are back in school the second or third of January, so they have, basically, a two week break," Brown said. "If you are in a semester school you have about a four week break. But ours has been as long as seven and about as short as five and a half."

Brown proposes shortening the vacation to about four weeks. He says a shorter break might make UM graduates more competitive when it comes to finding jobs in the summer

"Because our winter break is one of the longest in the United States, that puts our students at home for a long, long time," Brown said. "We hear from parents, we hear from students, we actually have students that come back early because they want to reengage with their friends and get ready for the next semester. But we also have issues dealing with getting our students out when other students in the country are getting out so that they are fully competitive for summer positions."

The public response period will last through March and a decision will likely be made in April, however, any changes won’t go into place until 2017.

 

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