Mustang Daily Staff Report
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Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong announced that the school will likely convert to semesters sometime within the next 10 years in a campus-wide email on Monday, despite recommendations to the contrary by the president’s Semester Review Task Force and Associated Students, Inc. (ASI).
“If all goes as expected, Cal Poly (will) begin the process of converting to semesters by the end of the decade,” Armstrong wrote in the email.
Though the decision may seem sudden, the road to actual conversion is a long one.
Decision-making
Cal Poly first began discussion of switching to semesters at the beginning of the school year, when Armstrong created the Semester Review Task Force with the intent to examine how Cal Poly would theoretically convert to semesters, and the feasibility of such a decision.
In December, the task force concluded with a recommendation to Armstrong for Cal Poly to stay on the quarter system.
Task Force chair Rachel Fernflores said the task force did everything it could to keep Cal Poly on its current calendar, but in the end, the decision rested with the chancellor.
“All that the committee could do is study, know what would be involved, and determine what the campus as a whole thinks about the decision,” Fernflores said. “I’m still digesting the decision, but we always knew that semesters were a possibility.”
Soon after, Armstrong announced he would continue to pursue exploration into semester conversion, prompting several open forums and a February ASI student advisory vote on the topic. The advisory vote revealed more than 89 percent of students favored sticking to quarters.
Armstrong, who has long been a proponent of semesters, then met with California State University (CSU) Chancellor Tim White and several other campus presidents to discuss the implications of putting all campuses on one calendar system.
In an email to the chancellor on Feb. 9, Armstrong officially recommended Cal Poly stay on the quarter system, citing the Semester Task Force Review report and ASI’s recent advisory vote as main reasons.
“While I started the consultative process with the view that Cal Poly should convert, today as a result of the exhaustive process Cal Poly has been through, I believe that it is not the right time for our campus to convert from quarters to semesters,” Armstrong wrote.
Despite this recommendation, Armstrong said White decided this week to begin transitioning the entire CSU system to a semester-based calendar, though the decision is still not an official one.
“The chancellor … is moving down a pathway toward a decision that all quarter campuses would convert to semesters on a phase-in basis,” Armstrong said. “And this would mean Cal Poly, we would convert as well.”
According to Armstrong, this phase-in would begin once the CSU officially decides to convert the remaining quarter campuses (six, including Cal Poly). Because of the school’s strong opposition against conversion, Cal Poly will be the last CSU campus to switch, Armstrong said.
“In recognition of our Task Force Report, the student vote, the ASI Board of directors vote, my recommendation, the campus-wide vote of the students, the Academic Senate — all of those factors — we were given more time,” Armstrong said. “We do not have to begin this decision until the end of the decade. We have a good six to eight years to work though, and continue to focus on our goals.”
CSU Public Affairs Assistant Liz Chapin said no official CSU announcement of the plan will be made until the chancellor has finished meeting with all campus presidents and constituents.
“The committee is moving toward that decision, but there has not been an official decision made,” Chapin said.
Semesters and reactions
Though it’s not official, the plan does have wide-reaching impacts at Cal Poly, where students, staff and faculty have voted multiple times to preserve the quarter system.
Shortly after the announcement, discontented shouts echoed throughout the campus community.
For some, such as business administration senior Athena Fowler, the announcement was upsetting because some prefer quarters to semesters overall.
“I’m glad I’ll be graduated,” Fowler said. “They’re going to have to change all the curriculum, so that kind of sucks for all the teachers … I really like the quarter system a lot, so that sucks for all the new kids coming in.”
Construction management sophomore Nick Carrera also said he liked quarters better than semesters.
“The quarter system was one of the reasons I chose to come to Cal Poly, and I think it’s kind of a shame that they’re deciding to switch,” he said. “But if it’s more financially prudent and helps with registration, then I’m all for it.”
For others, it was the manner in which the decision seems to contradict campus recommendations made by ASI and the president’s Semester Review Task Force that was the most upsetting.
“I’m just surprised that after everyone voted, they went to semesters, even though everyone voted for quarters,” liberal studies freshman Maddie Wilmont said.
Psychology junior Nathan Honeycutt, who was a student representative on the task force as well as a current ASI Board of Directors representative, said he disagrees with how the decision goes against both organizations’ findings.
“Eighty-nine percent of Cal Poly students said no to converting (in the ASI advisory vote), and look what happened,” Honeycutt said. “I know Cal Poly students will do well on whatever calendar system we have, it’s just the nature and caliber of students here. But it was clear students wanted to stay on quarters.”
The next 10 years
Despite strong feelings among campus members, Armstrong said the switch, which is expected to occur before the end of the decade, is less of a loss to the school’s uniqueness, and more of an opportunity to examine what makes it excel.
Because Cal Poly will not switch for six to eight years, the school has time to examine everything that makes it a successful institution and figure out the best way to implement these in a new calendar, Armstrong said.
“What are two things that are really special about quarters?” Armstrong said. “Pace and the variety of courses. We have time now to look at how we make sure the appropriate pace and the variety of courses can be embedded in a semester system. ”
Armstrong said he realizes there are strong feelings about the conversion, but he hopes the campus can keep an open mind moving forward. And for anyone who still has questions, he encourages them to contact him personally, he said.
“I’ll be happy to talk to students, I’ll be happy to talk to parents, faculty, staff, absolutely,” he said. “I think that discussion is appropriate, I know there are other people in administration that will be willing to talk. … My point to the people who have a disagreement with this is to take a deep breath, read it through again. If you have questions, you know, contact me, contact the office, we will be happy to talk to them.”
Kaytlyn Leslie, Sean McMinn, Sara Natividad and Laura Pezzini contributed to this article.