New Calendar Proves ‘Rushed’

Despite overwhelming student support for calendar reform when it was originally proposed several years ago, some are expressing discontent at their newly condensed schedules.

“The only thing I’m going to enjoy about the new calendar is the monthlong break,” said Sarah K. Littlehale ’11. “Otherwise, these past two weeks have been hell.”

In an e-mailed statement, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds echoed the general student sentiment, saying that Peer Advising Fellows told her that “it has been a transition to write papers before the winter recess,” but would be “worth it when they [students] are afforded a January reprieve from academic obligations.”

Some professors who were accustomed to Harvard’s old schedule, with exams occurring after the holiday season, are being forced to adapt their syllabi to a shorter semester. In an e-mail, Literature professor Leo Damrosch wrote that he has tried this year to extend due dates for term papers past the end of a “painfully compressed” reading period.

But several students complained that they feel that there has been less time between midterms than in years past.

“It feels rushed at times,” said Mark Pollak ’12. “It feels like professors didn’t know how to adjust.”

Harvard history professor Charles S. Maier ’60, who has held tenure since 1981, admitted to feeling “disoriented” by the changes.

“It should be December 15th right now,” Maier said.

On the whole, though, the new calendar has received many positive reviews, despite concerns about finishing coursework on tighter deadlines.

“Whatever the calendar is like, everyone always has to do too much work in too little time,” Damrosch wrote.