MU Faculty Council continues to discuss schedule changes for next school year
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The University of Missouri Faculty Council is still considering changes to the upcoming academic calendar.
The council is considering two proposals that would allow for scheduling flexibility with Veterans Day now considered a paid holiday for UM employees. The proposals would also give more room between the end of the fall semester and winter holidays.
It was revealed in October that MU’s fall semester next school year could lose its “Reading Day" -- also known as "Stop Day" by students and alumni -- to make up classroom hours lost from Veterans Day falling on a Wednesday. This year was the first year Veterans Day was a holiday for university workers.
The university is required to have 29 academic days scheduled for Tuesday/Thursday classes and 43 for Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes, according to previous reporting.
One proposal would allow for the last day of classes and final exam schedules to be set by each campus within the UM system. It also establishes a 15-week semester with one hour of faculty instruction per week, per credit hour.
If approved and implemented, this change would take effect in the fall 2026 semester.
Concerns amongst council members arose during Thursday's meeting. Some asked for more clarifying language in the proposal around the time length of classes.
"An hour can't be right because we have 150 minutes of instruction," one council member said. "So you have 75/75 (minutes of class time) or 50/50/50 so that is an edit that absolutely needs to be made."
Other council members also asked for more clarity around online courses.
The second proposal would set the school year to begin the third Monday of August beginning in the fall 2027 semester.
"That will help us have a slightly earlier semester and earlier end of the semester. So we don't have grades being due right before Christmas," Faculty Council Chair Carolyn Orbann said.
That proposal was initially suggested to take effect in 2026, but it was delayed by a year to avoid any impact to Winter 2026 graduation plans already in place.
The faculty council will vote on whether to approve either proposal at its Dec. 18 meeting, all faculty councils across all four UM campuses have to approve the same language. From there, the proposal will go to the desk of the chancellor and university's president. Once signed off, it will then go to the Board of Curators to be voted on.
