Students may be looking at a longer semester at Colorado State University-Pueblo, since Provost Carl Wright proposed a 16-week semester at the Faculty Senate meeting on Nov. 4. File photo.

Sarah Matott

Students may be looking at a longer semester at Colorado State University-Pueblo, since Provost Carl Wright proposed a 16-week semester at the Faculty Senate meeting on Nov. 4.

At the Faculty Senate meeting, the provost presented eight proposals that would potentially change the structure of the academic school year. Three of these proposals have already been withdrawn after the input received at the Faculty Senate meeting.

One proposal that is still on the table, however, would extend the current 15-week semester to a 16-week semester.

Many students are wondering why a longer semester is necessary, and a detailed explanation can get a little complicated.

There has been an examination into the current number of instructional hours being taught at CSU-Pueblo, and some classes fall below the required number of minutes. This is the reason the extra week of school may be added.

The required number of instructional hours is 120 hours of class or contact time with an instructor over the course of a year. This is called the Carnegie Unit, which is a standard for most public schools.

The Carnegie Unit provides a basis for the administration of higher education institutions to manage and compare students, faculty and institutions.

The units assist in determining student completion of course work and degrees. Faculty workload, efficiency and evaluation is rooted in these units.

This breaks down into a single one-hour meeting, five days each week for a total of 24 weeks per year. However, since the weekly class meetings for Monday, Wednesday and Friday only meet for 50-minutes a week, this makes those courses short of the required instructional minutes.

The proposed solution to not meeting this requirement is extending the current 15-week semester to a 16-week semester.

“I think most other universities have a 16-week schedule, so I don’t know if we would or wouldn’t benefit from having that extra week of school like other institutions, but I think that if CSU-Pueblo wants to become more like say CSU-Fort Collins or CU, then they should add the extra week, for it would only make CSU-Pueblo function better,” said Renee Mitchell a senior history major.

Mitchell said adding the extra week on would be worth it if students did get classes off on holidays like Columbus Day or Memorial Day.

“It sucks when everyone else you know has the day off from work and school, except us here at CSU-Pueblo,” Mitchell said.