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Chancellor Albert Carnesale speaks at an open-forum to discuss the possible switch to a semester sys

Faculty concern about a possible calendar switch from quarters to semesters permeated the air at a campuswide town hall meeting Monday.

The meeting was intended to clarify issues raised in a report released by the Joint Academic Senate/Administrative Committee to Study the Academic Calendar in November and then facilitate discussion among students, staff and faculty in attendance.

There were about 50 attendees at the afternoon meeting, less than a handful of them being students.

Chancellor Albert Carnesale explained the most important factor affecting his final decision – to be made at the end of spring quarter – is the impact a switch would have on student learning.

“It’s not about administrative costs,” Carnesale said adding that while there definitely will be “very real” transition costs, they are not a determining factor for the switch.

Carnesale and committee Co-chairman Ray Knapp told the audience to lessen its concerns about operational and transitional costs, which he said would be short-term. The chancellor said he wants campus discussion to focus on long-term curricular issues only, namely on which system more adequately will provide both “depth” and “breadth” in education.

While students must learn how to get to the core of an issue, they must also understand there are many ways to approach it, Carnesale said.

The majority of attendees expressed concern about having to arrive at a solution to the calendar question when the report relies heavily on anecdotal – rather than scientific – evidence.

Knapp explained there simply wasn’t strong evidence either way. Most studies are descriptive in nature, based on people’s subjective opinions and results of the switches at UC Berkeley and the University of Minnesota, he added.

The report’s dependence on subjective data could be used as an argument for either side, Carnesale argued. He added that he may concur with the senate’s minority view if he deems there is enough convincing evidence to do so.

“It bothers me we have to give him reasons ... I think he already knows (what he’ll decide),” said philosophy Professor David Kaplan, who was at UCLA when it switched from semesters to quarters in 1966.

“I would like to say he is going to make a decision based on numbers, not subjective opinion,” he continued.

But Knapp emphasized the value of campus discussion is just as important as a faculty vote in the chancellor’s decision.

Many other faculty seemed to be confused by the vague explanations of how a switch would affect professor teaching work loads.

If a conversion to semesters would make teaching loads larger, many said they wouldn’t vote for a switch and vice-versa; but Knapp and Committee Co-chairwoman Judith Smith offered no concrete conclusions on what would happen in that situation.

Smith explained it was unlikely workload would change; there would just be different methods for evaluation since each course would last five weeks longer but held less frequently each week.

Academic Senate Chairman Duncan Linsey asked department chairs to hold departmental discussions until March, then to submit reports on how a switch would affect their respective departments.

The workload issue is one example of why these departmental reports are so important, Smith said, because each department will be affected differently.

Skeptical faculty dominated much of the question and answer session, although a minority expressed their support for a quarter switch.

The town hall meeting was intended for the entire campus, but there were only a few students in attendance.

David Dahle, Undergraduate Students Association Council president, said he thought the meeting was a good opportunity for faculty to voice some of their opinions.

A decision has to balance a desire for the diversity of course offerings in the quarter system and the additional time students have for extracurricular activities in the semester system, Dahle said.

Currently, he said he is leaning toward the semester calendar.

Representatives from UC Berkeley and the University of Minnesota will be at the next town hall meeting scheduled for Wednesday, April 2, a week after departments submit their formal opinions.

The Joint Academic Senate / Administrative Committee to Study the Academic Calendar report on a switch from a quarter to a semester system can be found at http://www.senate.ucla.edu/calendar.