would begin Wednesday January 20, 2021 (the Wednesday after MLK Day), eliminate Spring Break, and end May 7. The second would begin January 25, 2021, eliminate spring break and all other holidays (i.e. President’s Day and Good Friday) and end May 7. A poll of the senators indicated a clear preference for the second option (beginning January 25). A motion was made, seconded and approved to authorize the Senate Executive Committee to draw up a revised academic calendar for Wintermester and Spring 2021 in line with those parameters.
In addition, there was discussion of the possibility of some programs running two eight-week sessions during the semester. Deputy Provost Beverly Schneller indicated that this possibility was open for programs that might choose it, so long as the longer class meetings the eight-week model may require didn’t conflict with times for 16-week semester classes.
Questions were also raised about whether continuing the current level of online course delivery would meet SACS-COC requirements. Dr. Schneller said that SACS-COC has approved KSU for up to 100 percent online for this semester. They hadn’t extended that yet, but probably would. In any case, even this semester, we are within the bounds of what we are approved for normally by SACS-COC in terms of our percentage of classes online.
Next, President Keeler brought forward a draft resolution from the Professional Concerns Committee on modes of instruction delivery for Spring 2021. The resolution asks the university president and provost to continue multiple modes of instruction as are being deployed this semester, with the mode of delivery in each case to be determined by the discretion of individual faculty and the needs of the particular