Sean McMinn
smcminn@mustangdaily.net
In just eight weeks, the Cal Poly Semester Review Task Force will have an answer to the question: Should Cal Poly become a semester campus?
The eight-week timeline for the task force is one of the shortest attempted by a university looking to switch to semesters, but Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said in a statement to Mustang Daily he is confident the university has already identified the topics it needs to examine to make a “sound and timely decision.”
“Deciding to convert isn’t that hard, but implementing a conversion is very difficult,” Armstrong said in the statement. “And if we decide to convert, we will be very careful to give ourselves time to make sure the conversion is successful.”
The committee members were finalized earlier this week and plan to begin meeting Wednesday. The quarter-long discussion will center around the question of whether semesters are the most efficient way to allow students, staff, faculty and administrators to improve Cal Poly, task force chair Rachel Fernflores said.
Fernflores said the task force has a shorter timeline due to the nature of its goal: solely determining whether the school should convert. Other universities, she said, have examined the contingencies of converting before actually making a decision.
“It’s a very restricted question that the task force is asking,” Fernflores said. “So I would say our job is to answer the question whether we think this would be good for Cal Poly. This is about the future for Cal Poly. If the president decides that we should convert then we would need to answer all these other questions.”
The University of Cincinnati, which services more than twice the number of students as Cal Poly and has twice the number of colleges, established a task force that met weekly for six months before making a decision. The university began using semesters this fall, more than three years after campus administrators announced their decision to switch.
Kettil Cedercreutz, the semester task force chair at the University of Cincinnati, said the university took special care to spend time on the conversion, as he knew it would be a model for other schools in Ohio aiming to switch to semesters. During the switch, the university reduced its number of course offerings by one-third and used it as a chance to completely redo its curriculum, Cedercreutz said.
“It would have been possible to do in a shorter amount of time,” he said. “We had to make a choice of how much of the curriculum we wanted to change.”
Another Ohio school to make the change this year is Ohio State University, Columbus. Senior Ally Marotti, who is the editor-in-chief at the Ohio State University Lantern newspaper, said the switch went relatively well since students who made the transition knew about it from the time they entered college.
Ohio State President Gordon Gee repeatedly compared the switch, which took more than three years to implement, to “planning the Normandy invasion.”
“It just seemed like it was one of those things that was really hard to organize,” Marotti said. “It’d be the same no matter what size your college is.”
While many other schools in the process of converting developed plans during the initial task-force phase, Cal Poly expects to plan the potential conversion during the first half of 2013, Fernflores said. If Armstrong and California State University Chancellor Charles Reed approve the switch, she said the university will need to begin planning immediately so it has adequate time to make the changes it needs to before semesters arrive.
“They (the other universities) were very consistent in their messaging to us, recommending that if we’re going to do it, try to do as much planning as you can,” Fernflores said.
Several factors came together to make this the right time to look at converting, including, the timing of Reed’s departure, Fernflores said. She said it is not a coincidence that Armstrong wants to make a decision before a new chancellor may arrive who is less favorable to conversion.
“We’re kind of on the cusp of something, because the outgoing chancellor has been talking for years about getting quarter schools on semesters,” she said.
The Cal Poly task force has 14 goals mandated by Armstrong, who called for its creation shortly before the beginning of the fall quarter. Among those tasks are determining a set of principles to be used during the conversion, a potential timeline and estimated cost of converting and a recommended course load for students under the new system.
The task force is expected to create a report at its final meeting at the end of fall quarter and will take about a week to finalize the document. Once the report is finished, Fernflores expects the campus will quickly know whether Cal Poly will remain on quarters or switch to semesters.
As an Alumni, Semester system is a BAD idea for Cal Poly – SLO students.
Quarters are what makes passing through the gauntlet of attending twelve quarters of courses and finally graduating so rewarding. Others and I have made the grade and as for me I would not have it any other way, Period!!!!!!!
Semesters at Cal Poly – SLO will hobble students future success as compared to those fellow Alumni who lasted through the test that ONLY Quarters can offer each Mustang. .
I have heard the positives in both semester and quarter systems. I personally love Cal Poly as quarter system. It helps stop procrastination and gets your rear into gear to study constantly and I feel very accomplished when the quarter is over.
The main point that I would like President Armstrong to consider is the effects of other clubs on campus. The Cal Poly Rose Float has to work with Cal Poly Pomona to produce a stunning float every year on Jan 1. If SLO were to switch to a semester system and Po weren’t, it could alter the schedule of the float building and our liaison with the Tournament of Roses. We are the only float that is solely student built and we are the only school to have a float constantly in the parade for the past 65 years.
Don’t make this decision lightly and please consider all the aspects that a semester system has to the Rose Float program.
I think its a horrible idea for Cal Poly to switch to a semester system. I am a Cal Poly transfer student from Cuesta College and when I transferred, one of the things I was most excited about was the switch to the quarter system and the academic challenge it presented. If we were to switch to semesters, Cal Poly would be just like every CSU in the system, which we are constantly told by our administrators, our President, professors and fellow students that we are not. 18-week semesters allow much more time for slacking off in a course and being able to catch back up by the time midterms or finals roll around. Currently at Poly if you slack off, miss a class or 2… you are hard-pressed to stay on top of the course. I think this is a great thing about quarters, it weeds out the less committed students and allows the serious students to be amply challeged and flourish. The administration will be taking a lot away from Cal Poly academics if they make the switch to semesters, more than I think they realize.
Armstrong has made his decision. It is obvious. It is a complete power grab to avoid input from staff (against) and students (against) and rush it while his buddy Reid can approve it without additional input. This will cost Cal Poly in excess of $7,000,000. It goes hand in hand with his desire to limit courses, lessen requirements for graduation and in general turn Cal Poly into a mediocre university. People if you want to stop him you need to act and act now!! President Armstrong has his own agenda, and it is not good for Cal Poly. Read his plans in his September address and then decide if you think he won’t damage Cal Poly, possibly irreparably. http://fallconference.calpoly.edu/program/presidentsremarks.asp Please if you do not want to be forced to change to semesters, especially without clear thought and preparation, contact your Department ask them what you can do!
If they switch to semesters, that would be the stupidest move ever.
It’s already hard enough to get graduated on time at that school, between budget cuts taking away classes, and increased enrollments.
When I was there, it was completely normal to be a 6th of even 7th year senior, even as a transfer who had all my stuff together and was more than on track coursework wise.
Meanwhile the school is threatening students and telling them to graduate faster or they’ll get kicked out. how is that supposed to happen when semsters take EVEN MORE TIME to complete?
It’s ridiculous that they would even consider this move at all.
As alumni, I’m horrified that such a short sighted plan would even be considered, by someone who clearly has no idea what is best for the college as a whole.
I agree.
President Armstrong please be advised that if Cal Poly – SLO puts Semesters in and Quarters out. Then my annual giving to Cal Poly – SLO ENDS until further notice.
The article fails to mention that Cal Poly – Pomona did look at switching to semesters and decided against it. Why is this being considered at this time, when resources are slim, and the faculty already has enough on its plate to offer classes in a crisis environment? When there aren’t enough classes offered to allow students to graduate on time? It makes no sense to be undertaking a project like this at this time, nor does it make sense to be rush-rushing a decision like this that can have a profound and negative impact on Cal Poly’s already excellent way of offering an education.