5/29/97 Contact: Sharon S. Brehm, Ohio University, 614/593-2600

ATHENS, Ohio -- The Calendar Study Task Force at Ohio University voted Thursday (May 29) to recommend that the university remain on the quarter system.

The committee of faculty, staff, students, regional campus representatives and community members voted 19 to 8 with one abstention in favor of remaining on the quarter system. The panel had been studying the possibility of changing to another academic calendar since fall quarter.

Provost Sharon S. Brehm, who chaired the task force, said the committee found no compelling academic reason to change to a semester system or any other academic calendar.

"There is no evidence that there is any effect of either the quarter or the semester system on learning. Some people believe there are such effects. . . but there is no compelling, adequate documentation of such effects," Brehm said. "That's what we were looking for: Is there a compelling reason for change? The notion was you don't just go out and make a change like this for no reason. You need to have a reason and you need to have a rationale."

Brehm plans to submit a written report on the committee's recommendation and findings to President Robert Glidden early next week.

The committee's study included a review of research related to an academic calendar's effects on learning; consultation with faculty and administrators at universities that recently have switched calendars or studied the idea and decided not to change; a survey of Ohio University academic departments and schools to determine effects of changing to semesters on academics and curriculum; and an examination of the views of the local community.

The panel also held four public meetings during winter quarter, inviting input from faculty and staff, students, regional campuses and the community.

"It was an extraordinarily good committee that worked extremely hard," Brehm said.

In addition to finding no compelling academic reason for change, Brehm said that some members of the committee were concerned about the timing of such a major change at the university.

"Ohio University is at a very interesting point in its history and its development. I think we have a lot of very interesting and exciting things to do both in terms of undergraduate education and also in terms of graduate studies and research," Brehm added. "If we were to make a calendar change, it would require an enormous amount of time, energy, focus and possibly money. . . . To focus Ohio University on such a change at this time would take us away from some of the other issues that we are confronted with that are very important."

Brehm said the committee is sympathetic to the concerns the local business community expressed about the long winter break connected to the quarter system, but noted that an academic calendar does not determine the length of the university's break.

"That is really a separate issue," she said.

A 1992 report by a campus task force recommended that Ohio University retain the quarter system. A survey conducted by the 1992 committee found that the majority of faculty and administrators favored the quarter system.