TL;DR: Princeton is cutting the ONLY break in the Spring Semester from 1 week to 2 days. Students need breaks for many reasons. We believe this to be harmful and unnecessary change to the calendar. Help us convince the university of this as well.

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In its Spring 2021 reopening plan, Princeton University announced that it will not change its Academic Calendar, which slashed its usual 1-week Spring Break to a mere 2 days. As students, parents, faculty members, and staff, we believe that this is not only an unnecessary modification to the usual university calendar, but is detrimental to the academic experience, mental health, and wellbeing of students. This new calendar allows only for 2 days of break in an otherwise 15 uninterrupted weeks of university coursework, examinations, and paper deadlines.

When asked about the updated calendar and the changes affecting Spring Break in the Student town hall held on Dec 1st 2020, Dean of the College Jill Dolan responded by saying that:
 
“We like to give people an entire week to rest and recharge, but we’ve abbreviated the spring break, and we know that puts pressure on people, but we did that to encourage people to stay on campus.”
 
The fact that the university would take away the only proper break students have during the Spring Semester as a deterrent for travel is highly misguided and exposes the university’s mistrust of the undergraduate student body.
 
This policy, along with the justification presented, shows that the university fails to see us as partners in protecting the health and wellbeing of our community. It simply does not trust its own student body to make responsible decisions, and instead creates barriers that effectively take away the students’ sense of agency, coercing them into measures designed to better ensure their compliance, even when the measures it deems necessary to this end are detrimental to health and wellbeing of the very students it claims to protect.
Simply put, the university would rather implement this sort of preemptive group punishment in order to deter students from traveling, even if it means jeopardizing the student academic experience and mental health.

Moreover, as a policy, the proposed calendar does little to change student behavior. A hypothetical student who intends to travel to visit family nearby or to escape to New York city for the weekend could do so with no mechanism in place to stop them or to keep them accountable, besides the minor inconvenience of an abbreviated visit. The ones who are affected are in fact the vast majority of students who comply with the social contract, who have to bear a sort of preemptive group punishment imposed on them by their university.
 
I believe that we deserve a Spring Break. A proper break. One where we can actually breathe, relax for a bit, catch up on coursework, mentally digest all the things we’ve learned, call a friend, go on a walk on the toe path by the canal, and not leave the university and its vicinity, of course. I do not find this to be a radical claim. I think it is highly unethical to expect students to work 15 weeks non-stop, with their only break being the sort of extended weekend the university plans to offer. It is detrimental to our health, our academic experiences, and our sense of community.
 
If you agree, you can take action NOW by adding your name to our petition. Together, we can place pressure on the university to revise its Spring 2021 Calendar and prioritize the health and wellbeing of its students.

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Signatories: 670 as of 8:09 pm EST 01/14

Anna McGee, '22
Isaac Gradl, '23
camille reeves, '23
BT Hayes, '22
Katie Goldman, '22
Eric Tsang, '21
Rosemary Paulson, '23
Allen Liu, '22
Liam Parker, '23
Alan Lin, '22
Tanvi Haldiya , '24
Jacob Raghoobar, '23
Ismary Jimenez, '21
Nica Evans, '24
Yuqi Liang, '23
Kimberly Lu, '22
Camilla Strauss, '23
AnneMarie Caballero, '23
Selena Shaw, '22
Sophie Chen, '22
Roshini Balasubramanian, '22
Eric Gutierrez , '24
Elaine Wright, '21
Madeleine Chong, '23
Lois Wu, '23
Javin Lu, '22
Waree Sethapun, '24
Tamunotoru Obunge , '24
Khadijah Anwar, '22
Hollis Ma, '22
Patrycja, '21
Ifeanyi Isichei, '23
Sophia Winograd, '21
David Villarreal , '23
Jeremy Bernius, '22
Shana Chen, '24
Santiago Guiran, '22
Ally N., '23
Ava Vilensky, '23
Ahmed Farah, '22
Hadley Clayton, '23
Liam Seeley, '23
Tori Gorton , '21
Peter Colvin, '21
Hanna Szabo, '22
Nishant Singhal, '23
James Adams, '24
Nicole Martin, '23
Brendan Tang, '23
Chloe Horner, '22
Payton Croskey , '23
Andrew Xu, '22
Cole Meyer, '24
Vera Ebong, '24
Max Garlock, '22
Antun Knez, '23
Imane Mabrouk, '21
Makailyn Jones, '22
Daniel Bracho, '21
Emily Ryu, '21
Francesca DiMare, '23
Diane Yang, '23
Jenny Wang, '22
Daniel Wey, '22
Sakhi Shah, '24
Anna Hiltner, '23
Sydney Evans, '22
Lara Valt, '22
Kristoffer Selberg, '24
Natasha Montiel, '22
Aimee Sampayan, '22
Casey Beidel, '24
Omar Z, '22
Emily A. Cruz, '22
Aishah Balogun, '23
Philip Sobocinski , '22
Hernan Valles, '21
Cathleen Weng, '24
Erik Roll, '24
Sultan Al Habsi, '22
Hilcia Acevedo, '23
Alissa Nalewajko , '22
Sarah Lee, '22
Taylor Kass , '22
Abhinav Agarwal , '23
Aavi Gupta, '24
Nemo Newman, '23
Jasmine Zhang, '24
Sally Root, '22
Hoang Le, '22
Mansi Totwani, '22
Seema Gupta, '22
Lindsey Moore, '22
Mark Castellano, '22
Ayo Gbadamosi, '23
Nick Schmeller, '21
Eliza Shaffer, '24
Nazdar Rosna Ayzit, '23
Katie Kuhlman , '23
Misrach Ewunetie, '24
Adithya Sriram, '24
Jared Young, '21
Gillian Hilscher, '23
Glenna Jane Galarion, '21
Peter Taylor, '22
Maddie Winter, '22
Alex Charles, '22
Asher Joy, '23
Eli Costa, '22
Kaylee Zecchin, '22
Sriyans Rauniyar, '24
Angel Kuo, '24
Jackson Emus , '23
Harrison Snowden, '22
Maya Satchell , '24
Antek Hasiura, '24
Jeffrey Barzach , '22
Andi Grene, '24
Nicole Gomez, '22
Debby Park, '22
Alex Tsai, '23
Ilia Curto Pelle, '22
Leila Hudson, '24
Lillith Price-Wharff, '24
Andrew Tabaei, '24
Joanna Kuo, '22
Cate Bade, '24
Mark Lee , Graduate student
Mary Davis, '22
Fahd Nasser, '22
CiAnee Campbell, '23
Risa Gelles-Watnick, '21
Shriya Bhatt, '22
Abinitha Gourabathina, '23
Stephen Zheng, '23
Daniel Beard, '22
Anna Lucas, '23
Mandy Lin, '23
Tim Amarell, '22
Lap Hei Lam, '21
Arielle Rivera, '23
Neyci Estefanía Gutiérrez Valencia, '23
Mohammed Elzubeir, '22
Gregory Smith, '21
Sheherzad Jamal, '23
Samuel Hanson, '24
Lena Barton, '24
Claire Schmeller, '23
Julia Ruskin, '22
Justin Coon, '22
Zyanne Clay-Hubbard, '21
Mench Julia Santelices, '22
Ally Wonski, '22
Daniella Gonzalez, '21
Dhvani Jain, '23
Rohan Jinturkar, '23
Arjun Jagjivan, '23
Allison Yang, '23
Charles An, '22
Sydney Bebon, '23
Fatomata Konteh , '21
Rifat Islam, '23
Ethan Seide, '22
Naser Al-Fawakhiri, '22
Dylan Shapiro, '23
Raphael Njoku, '22
Alexandra Zalewski, Graduate student
Hannah Wang, '21
Chris Barkachi, Undergraduate student
Atanas Tenev, '23
Ashley Nurse, '21
Sean Horton, '22
Claire Middleton , '24
Brendan Kehoe, '24
Auslin Mills, '24
Laura Fang, '23
Jellyxa Rogel, '23
Kesavan Srivilliputhur, '23
Joyce Mo , '24
Sean Bradley, '24
Abigail Loveys, '23
Larissa Oliveira, '21
Wells Carson, '22
Jack Isaac, '23
Christine Deng, '22
Daniel Choo, '22
Amber Rahman, '24
Alice Egar, '21
Juliana DaSilva, '23
Antea Garo, '24
Marko Medvedev, '22
Rebecka Mähring, '23
Sydney Johnson , '21
Stephanie Yen, '24
Bryan Wang, '24
Tyler Feemster, '22
Serena Starks, '23
Celia Buchband , '22
Meron Hagos, '23
Grace Lanouette, '22
Tai Jeffers, '22
Brayan Mata, '22
Roshini Balasubramanian, '22
Sophie Singletary, '23
Jarod Wille, '23
Patrick Townsend, '23
Vedrana Ivezic, '22
Avani Nooka, '24
Stacey Edmonsond, '21
Benjamin Porter, '22
Brandon Gauthier, '23
Kisara Moore, '22
Emily Chen, Graduate student
Jair Morales, '24
Ayush Alag, '23
Natalia Zorrilla, '23
Connor Haskin, '22
Brooke L. Gallagher, '22
Yukiko Chevray, '24
TJ Li, '21
Meredith Summa, '22
Iliyah Coles, '22
Angie Sheehan, '22
Olivia Guan, '21
Allie Matthias, '24
Reha Mathur, '24
Charlotte Root, '22
Brittani Telfair, '22
Thea Dimapeles, '21
Hailey Colborn , '22
Cassidy Humphreys , '22
Niranjana Bienkowska, '21
Uanne Chang, '24
Zlata Bobyr , '23
Jenny Driscoll, '22
Ashley Fan, '24
Mufid Rahman, '24
Ritvik Agnihotri, '22
Genrietta Churbanova, '24
Guillermo de la Torre, '22
Noah Tobin, '24
Misael Campos, '21
Jacob Bleil, '23
Reva Singh, '24
Simen Guttormsen, '23
Claudia Humphrey , '22
Christy Lee, '21
Evan Zhou, '24
Jessica Yeh, '23
Kriti Kothari , '23
Aria Lupo, '24
Andre Yin, '22
Shafaq Khan, '21
Melanie Porras, '21
Kevin Yang, '22
Aria Buchanan, '22
Naomi Farkas , '24
Jess Lawlor, '21
Grace Ni , '23
Joel Fong, '22
Owen Travis, '24
Sophia Wang, '22
Yedoh Kang, '22
Christina Moon, '22
Ayame Whitfield, '21
Grace Wang, '22
Pranav Avva, '24
Gedeon Guercin, '24
Oleg Golev, '22
Hannah Chomiczewski, Alum
Lyubomir Hadjiyski, '21
Olivia Zhang, '21
Dev Patel, '23
Isra Thange, '22
Arlette Cojab, '24
Joy Cho, '23
Max Kim, '21
Brandon Dunlevy, '21
Jessica Ramirez, '21
Wenyuan Hou, '21
James Porter, '22
Christina Chun, '21
Joao Cesar Campos Vargas, '21
Hifsa Chaudhry , '22
Tanvi Kishore, '22
Kyle Ikuma, '23
Hannah Baynesan, '22
Niklas Wegmann , '22
Nathan Gage, '24
Reis White, '22
Adrienne Brookins, '22
Alev Studenikina, '23
Zoha Enver, '23
Moreen Rezkalla, '23
Auhjanae McGee, '23
Khari, '24
Isamar Gonzalez , '23
Lila Harmar, '22
Oliver nusbaum , '22
Jalen Travis, '21
Ricardo Salas Murillo, '22
Kaylan Fomby, '22
Nina Onyemeziem, '22
Norman Champ , '22
Laura Molina, '21
Emma Patterson, '24
Harry Shapiro, '22
Vickie Talvola, '21
William Svoboda, '22
reid zlotky, '23
Katie Kopp, '23
Annie Zhou, '21
Olivia Hee, '23
Katie McLaughlin , '23
aliza haider, '22
Lauren Huff, '22
Katie Bushman, '22
Enrique , '22
Taylor Nelson, '24
Grace Doyle, Undergraduate student
Tiana Ruden, '24
Stephanie Lytle, '21
Ayde Amir, '21
Ryan Gibbons, '24
Conor Hussey , Graduate student
Gabby Veciana, '24
Mwad Saleh, '22
Sam Melton, '23
Kate Semmens, '22
Danielle Samake, '24
Bobby Shell, '23
Sara Dardik, '22
Paul Haws, '21
Andrew Arking, '22
Sophie Goldman, '23
Daisy Bissonette, '23
Chiara Salvati, '22
Maria Russo, '22
Daniel Carter, '23
Nannette Beckley, '23
Halle Mitchell, '23
Caroline Subbiah, '23
Lindsay Getraer, '23
Peter Fisher, '21
Ruggaya Musa, '24
Lindsey Schmidt, '21
Claire Lessler, '22
William Makinen, '22
Henry Koffler, '23
A. Marsh, '23
Kojo Baidoo, '24
Zoe Montague, '24
Lulu, '23
Calif Chen, '23
David Edgemon, '24
Sajiwan Naicker, '22
Matthew Lee, '22
Bianca Chan, '23
Xuefei Gao, '22
Neha Chauhan, '21
Tiana Graham, '21
Richard Yang, '22
Paul Kopp, '21
Ana Blanco, '23
Umar Aulia, '24
Naomi Frim-Abrams, '23
Simran S. Khanna, '22
Sara Alway, '24
Emma Moriarty, '22
Yara Daraiseh, Undergraduate student
Helen Wang, '22
Megan Leinenbach, '23
Hannah Faughnan, '23
Lauren Okamoto, '24
Zoe Rennie, '21
Kenneth Gonzalez Santibanez, '22
Lucy Sirrs, '23
Johana Leanos, '21
Jack Johnson, '23
Rishi Khanna, '24
Kasia Krzyzanska, '22
Marina Carlucci , '21
Faraaz Godil, '24
Brendan Zelikman, '23
Cammie Lee, '22
Hanne Borstlap, '22
Kirsten Pardo, '24
Shivani Prusty, '23
Marko Petrovic, '24
Reed Jacobs, ‘23, '23
Shruti Venkat, '23
Jasmine Li, '22
Neo Huang, '23
Mollika Jai Singh, '24
Shakhnoza Salimjonova, '24
Esther Levy, '22
Andrea Mejia, '23
Katherine French, '22
Theresa Lim, '24
Megan Bequette, '22
Julianna Revelo, '23
Nick Coleburn, '21
Tamica Perera, '22
Won-Jae Chang, '24
Shannon Chaffers, '22
Warren James, '22
Che' Rogers, '22
Arielle Mindel, '21
Chris Walton, '21
James Packman, '21
Raisa Chowdhury, Graduate student
Jen No, '22
Sara Sacks, '22
Richard Ma, '22
Ned Bless, '22
Wendi Yan, '23
Isaiah Wonnenberg, Graduate student
Aliha Mughal , '23
Christien Ayers, '23
Aneesha Manocha, '23
Sofia Lodato, '22
Grace Chung, '23
Chirag Kumar, '23
Mina Takegami, '23
Andy Wang, '24
2Pi Pham, '23
Jose Ayala, '22
Justin Curl, '22
Jacqueline He, '22
Yana M., '22
Luke Chan, '24
Karen Delgado, '21
Yu Jeong Lee, '22
Samantha Borenstein, '24
Jennifer Lee, '23
Alexis Anglade, '23
Nomi Willis, '24
Danielle Ranucci, '23
Hanna Xu, '23
Jojo Deep, '23
Farah Azmi, '24
Addie Jung, '22
Hannah Reynolds, '22
Manar Talab, '23
Soumya Gottipati, '22
Daniel Jubas, '21
Sriram Srinivasan, '22
Roberto Hasbun, '21
Joan Perez, '23
Joshua Haile, '22
Orli Epstein, '24
Joshua Faires, Alum
Ivan Garcia, '23
Aaron Eng, '23
Sydney Hughes, '22
Hannah Huh, '22
leah smith , '22
Gabriel Grajeda, '22
Ben Gorse, '24
Sophie Li, '21
Ellie Chang, '23
Warren Quan, '24
Janielle Dumapit, '23
Tanvi Nibhanupudi, '23
Elie Svoll, '22
Sophia Lewandrowski, '22
Christina Cho , '24
Ethan Lam, '23
Kenalpha Kipyegon , '22
Ananya Grover, '24
Jake Gutman, Graduate student
Brandon Ambetsa, '24
Phoebe Park, '22
Shantanu Ramji, '23
Eric Lee, '24
Diego Solorio, '24
Hazel Lee, '21
Fatima Sanogo, '22
Jens Clausen, '21
Charlotte Thiel, '22
Persis Baah, Undergraduate student
Maya V. Mishra, '22
Nash Mepukori, Graduate student
Ioana Teodorescu, '21
Rachel Roesch, '22
Madeline Farrar, '24
Briana Macedo, '22
Katherine Belilty, '24
Benjy Jude, '23
Cosmin Andrei , '22
Katherine Dailey, '24
Leonela Serrano, '22
Sajan Young , '24
Tiffany Agyarko, '23
Kristine Yu, '22
Zach Hammack, '22
Vinay Konuru, '24
Sydney Eck , '24
Marlene Cardoza, '24
Jasper Levy, '24
Rowen G, '24
Sydney Goldman, '21
Joice Kim, '21
Myla Wailoo, '24
Grace Liu, '23
Jackson Ikenberry , '23
Molly Cutler, '23
Jian Arnold, '23
Rowan Pierson, '22
Julie Shin, '22
Molly Sauter, '23
Regina Lankenau, '21
Ryan Xia, '22
Nia McCullin, '21
Leashell Camille, '23
Tiana Fitzgerald , '22
Isa Kessinger, '23
Grace Klepetka, '22
Alison Lee, '24
Anika Maskara, '23
Kate Schassler, '21
Janis Chen, '24
Akash Kushwaha, '21
Angelly Garcia, '21
Abby Aleshire, '24
Emily Philippides, '22
Minji Park, '22
Sean Park, '24
Anjali Kapoor, '24
Elijah Pomerantz, '22
Ivy Wang, '23
Helen Brush, '24
Lizzie Evanko, '23
Meghana Mungikar, Graduate student
Kaitlyn Williams '22, '22
Brianna Royer, '22
Nikki Venema, '23
Naomi Benenson, '23
Lauren Almstead, '22
Tara Shawa, '22
Tamilore Ajeigbe , '22
Yuri Tamama, '22
Annette Lee, '23
Eugene Liu, '24
Ian Hutchcroft, Graduate student
Megan King, '24
Sidney Gregorek, '22
Yoo Shin Tanai, '23
Yuxin Shi, '22
Benjamin Roberts, '22
Noori Zubieta, '24
Laura Hausman, Graduate student
Mohamed Alghondakly, '23
Kristal Grant, '24
Katelyn Rodrigues, '23
Eileen Wang, '21
Daniel Flyer, '24
Grace Atlee, '21
Isabella Moscoe , '24
Johnatan Reiss, '23
Ella Morgan , '24
Sophie Cantine , '21
Xiexin Wang, '21
Michael Fletcher, '22
Kateri Espinosa, '24
Josh Babu, '22
Mary Elizabeth Adler , '22
Ian Jaccojwang, '23
Kayla Memis, '22
Grey Raber, '23
Madison Esposito, '23
Rohit Oomman, '24
Angel Osaseri, '23
Kimora Kong, '21
Jeremie Forget, '22
Sean-Wyn Ng, '21
Adira Smirnov, '23
Shira Moolten, '21
Aviram Shwarzbard , '22
Joshua Wells, '24
Jacqueline Baumgartner, Graduate student
Sumanth Maddirala, '22
Gaea Lawton, '23
Helena Drake, '24
Emmy Song, '24
Seoyoung Hong, '21
Vignesh Panchanatham, '22
Zoe Simon, '24
Sowon Lee, '23
Kathy Li, '24
Galen cadley, '22
Hannah Pouler, '21
Aneekah Uddin, '24
Adrian Rogers , '23
Trivan Menezes, '23
Sumner Brinkley, '21
Michael Man, '21
Maya Jaaskelainen, '24
Nadine Lombardo-Han, Graduate student
Catherine Chen, '23
Ben Liang, '21
Isabel Zaller, '22
carmina rangel-pacheco, '23
Joe Himmelfarb, '24
Joachim Ambaw, '24
Hunter Worth, '22
Alice Madar, '21
Seppe De Pauw, '24
Kaleb Areda, '24
Proby Gottipati, '24
Angelika Morris, '21
Ayeda Hamed, '23
Sarah Radwan , '21
Angelica Qin, '23
Annie Leach, '24
Amital Haas, '21
David Bershadsky , '24
Priya Naphade, '24
Yulissa Cantero, '22
Tevin Singei, '24
Kris Hristov, '21
Delaney Callaghan, '23
Ben Cai , '24
Sirfraz Shah, '24
Zoe San Martin, '24
Zoie Nieto, '21
Ian Nicolae, '23
Nika Belova, '24
Elizabeth Bailey, '21
Cindy Cheng, '23
sungho park, '22
Eva Vesely, '24
Rimsha Malik, '21
Destiny Turner, '24
Daniel Hu, '24
Eve Fleisig, '21
Catherine Marques, '22
Abigail Drummond, '22
Saad Ayub, '23
Sarina Rahman, '23
Bradley RIndos, '23
Matt Kertman, Graduate student
Jonathan Silverman, '24
Molly Chambers, '24
Dafna Yavetz, '23
Anna B., '23
Georgia Souleles, '24
Kezia Dickson, '23
Nausheen Rajan, Graduate student
Alaina Joby, '24
Christopher Armstrong , '24
Lowell Hutchinson, '21
Madison Schwab, '21
Theodore Gross, '24
Jack Sullivan, '22
Arjun Ramakrishnan, '24
Jonathan, '24
Paige Allen, '21
Christine Nguyen, '23
Melat Bekele, '24
Sergio Serna, '21
Daisy Torres, '22
Abby Nishiwaki, '23
Camellia Moors, '22
Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara , '24
Gabriela Hayward-Lara, '21
Jacqueline Lydon, '24
Amy Wang, '22
Eesha Agarwal, '23
Krystal Cohen, '21