The following guidelines approved by the Faculty Senate are used to construct the academic calendar each year. The calendar is prepared by the Office of the Registrar and reviewed by the Academic Policies Committee, which is responsible for recommending the calendar to the senate for its review and action.
Holidays
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day will all be recognized holidays with no classes.
- Thanksgiving break begins after the last class on the Monday preceding Thanksgiving; classes resume the Monday following Thanksgiving.
Semester start dates
- There should be a two-week break between the end of summer II classes and the beginning of classes for the fall semester.
- There should be at least a two-week break between the end of classes for the fall semester and the beginning of classes for the spring semester.
- The spring semester will start on a date that will cause grades to be due during the week before commencement.
- Summer session I classes will begin the Tuesday after commencement.
[As a guiding principle: Spring – start Monday; Fall – start Monday; Summer I – Tuesday; Summer II – Monday]
Final exams
- In the fall and spring semesters, faculty teaching regular weekday classes will have at least three days to grade final exams.
- Faculty teaching weekend classes will have at least two days to grade final exams.
- Students will have one full study day between the last day of class and the beginning of the exam period.
- Final exams in summer sessions are to be given during the last scheduled class period, with no study day planned.
Spring Grades
In the spring semester, grades will be due the week before commencement.
Spring Recess
The spring recess will be listed as "to be announced." The current policy for setting spring recess dates is as follows: “Spring recess shall be held in conjunction with spring recess of the public schools in the surrounding counties unless the latter falls later than the twelfth week of the semester. Should the spring recess of the public schools fall later than the twelfth week of the semester, then the Indiana University Southeast spring recess would be held following the eighth week of classes.” The current policy of the local public schools is to hold spring recess during the last full week of March.
The Academic Calendar for each semester is published in the Schedule of Classes. Instructors are expected to hold classes upon the basis of the regular schedule of classes. The number of class meetings and the length of each class period have been set to meet federal, university, and accrediting standards. (See the “Policy and Guidelines for Determining Units of Academic Credit” section in the Bulletin.) They should not be altered without prior clearance with the dean of the appropriate school or the vice chancellor for academic affairs. The first class meeting of any course should run for the major part of the scheduled period.
An instructor who needs to change the location or time of an individual class meeting should clear this with the school dean and registrar's office. A master room schedule to prevent conflicts in room utilization is maintained at the Information Desk; therefore, room change forms must be completed and approved by the dean and the vice chancellor for academic affairs prior to initiating a long-term change in class meeting location or time.