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Syracuse University will provide two wellness days for students during the spring semester, university officials announced during a University Senate meeting Wednesday.

SU will not hold classes, require classwork to be due or administer exams on March 23 and April 21, Interim Provost John Liu said in a campus-wide email Wednesday. Extracurricular activities can still take place on these days. 

The decision was made at the request of students, Chancellor Kent Syverud said at the meeting. More than 2,300 students and parents have signed a Change.org petition calling on SU to add wellness days to its calendar. The officials did not mention the petition.

The spring semester, which is set to begin Feb. 8, will not have a spring break due to the pandemic. The university is exploring options for additional wellness activities and will also open the Carrier Dome for activities and open study during the day, along with classes, Syverud said.  

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has presented SU with unprecedented challenges, the university is in a strong financial and academic position, Syverud said.

Undergraduate enrollment at SU is up by 25% from this time last year, he said. The 39,000 undergraduate applications the university has received is the largest pool of applications ever, Syverud said.

“This is a result of an aggressive and targeted recruitment strategy,” Syverud said. It also reflects SU’s fall policy to make test scores optional in light of the pandemic, a policy shift the university is considering extending as students continue to struggle accessing tests and testing resources, he said.

SU’s budget deficit is manageable, as long as the university does not have to shut down operations again, he said. 

“If we can stay on this trajectory, we should be able to move forward without additional major impacts to our people or our programs,” Syverud said. “That is something that relatively few universities can say.”

The Senate also approved a slate of search committee members who will lead the university’s efforts to hire a provost. The position description was posted in early November, and the committee plans to conduct its first round of interviews in February, Syverud said. SU is on track to announce the appointment in early spring.

Published on January 27, 2021 at 5:14 pm

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3