By Mikayla Geraghty – Staff Writer

The year I began as a student at Bishop’s was the year that they piloted fall reading week. Every year since we have had a fall reading week seemingly come at the most inconvenient point of the semester. For the past two years, reading week has fallen on the last week of October. This is commonly a dead week among many students as I find that many midterms are wrapped up before reading week commences. While a week mostly free of stressful schoolwork is a dream for most students, it counteracts the intention of having a “reading week.” 

The university markets reading week as a time when students should study for their tests and catch up on schoolwork; however, the timing comes after the midseason rush that many students struggle through while trying to maintain healthy attendance in their classes. 

While this week of rest is nice, it almost serves the opposite of its intended purpose and gets me out of my school “groove.” I have found from my experience that it is hard to get back into my routine after fall reading week is over. After four months off from school, I don’t feel a need for a break only eight weeks after starting back to school. If anything, it disrupts the already fragile routine that students try to build in the first couple weeks of school. 

I believe with our vast population of out-of-province and international students, reforms should be made to the timing of reading week to better accommodate students on an academic level as well as on a personal level. Many students have to travel far distances to get home and with reading week being a mere two weeks after Thanksgiving, our traveling students are often faced with a choice of whether to go home for Thanksgiving or reading week. 

To better accommodate our geographically diverse student body, I propose a reading week reformation. I think Bishop’s University should better plan the placement of the break in the semester. This is why I think that going forward, fall reading week should directly precede or follow Thanksgiving weekend. While this earlier start may interrupt the process of getting into a routine, this adjustment will allow more students to go home and spend time with their loved ones without having to make a choice or potentially sacrifice going home for either Thanksgiving or reading week. It also means midterms are less likely to finish before the reading week. Additionally, students who can commute home for both breaks would save a couple of hours of driving, making one trip instead of two. These reforms would make Bishop’s a more accommodating campus to an even larger portion of the student body.