In Large Turnout, Calendar Reform Wins Overwhelming Support

A revamped academic calendar in which finals would come before the December break was endorsed by 84 percent of voting undergraduates in a referendum that saw the participation of just over half the student body, Undergraduate Council President Ryan A. Petersen '08 announced today.

Of the 3,467 students who voted in the referendum this week, 2,914 cast a ballot in favor of a UC proposal that would also extend winter break to four weeks and have the spring final exam period end more than a week earlier. Meanwhile, 549 students voted against the proposal, Petersen said.

The number of students who endorsed the UC's proposed academic calendar in the referendum amounts to 43.4 percent of the entire undergraduate student body.

In a letter today to interim University President Derek C. Bok, Petersen called for the new calendar to take effect in the 2008-2009 academic year. The calendar change would need the approval of the University's top governing board, the seven-member Harvard Corporation, which includes the president.

"I think the Undergraduate community has spoken that they want the calendar to change,” Petersen said in an interview. “I hope this discussion can be broadened to include members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the President and Fellows of Harvard College.”

Petersen's letter to Bok said there was a "near-record turnout" for the calendar referendum. The total of 3,467 students voting this week is just less than the 3,519 who participated last semester's UC presidential election, and 518 fewer than the record turnout in the December 2004 presidential vote.

—Staff writer Christian B. Flow can be reached at cflow@fas.harvard.edu.

—Check thecrimson.com throughout the weekend for updates.