Starting classes so early undermines the school’s efforts regarding student wellness
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are two of the most widely celebrated days in Canada. For many, they offer an opportunity to celebrate and party with friends in a secular, inclusive, and celebratory way. In acknowledging the importance of the new year, the federal government has made New Year’s Day (January 1) a statutory holiday. The standard practice in Canada for statutory holidays of this importance is that when they fall on the weekend, they are celebrated the following Monday. This means that for this year, as January 1, 2023 fell on a Sunday, the statutory holiday corresponded to Monday, January 2, 2023. It is therefore interesting that the Faculty of Law chose to commence second semester classes for the 1L cohort, along with upper-year intensive courses, on Monday, January 2, 2023; not even acknowledging this important holiday.
For many, this seemingly minor change had the impact of depriving them of spending one of their favourite days with friends and family. For instance, Calgary-native Josh Crawford (2L) was quoted saying, “I had to come to Toronto much earlier than I would’ve liked because coming on January 1 was not really possible.” Fair enough—we can only imagine how unreliable the YYC airport can be in -40°C weather. Crawford went on to say “I came back to Toronto on December 28 to ensure I had all the logistics taken care of before school started because I knew I couldn’t get my groceries etc. if I stayed in Calgary for New Year’s.” Crawford’s situation is not unique as many out-of-province students were left in the lurch yet again, forced to come back earlier than they would have liked. This is not to say that the decision to come back on January 2 was acceptable for Ontario-based students either. Indeed many law students acknowledged that starting school so soon impacted their ability to relax and have fun on New Year’s Eve. This stress was compounded by professors sending out reading that was supposed to be done in advance of the first class.
As it pertains to the intensive courses, I can sympathize with the administration to a certain extent. There are obviously going to be challenges with timing in trying to schedule visiting professors, and it seems plausible that the Intersession (i.e., the time between semesters) is the best time for some of these professors to come to the Faculty of Law. However, a quick solution would have been to have two classes on one of the subsequent days and keep the Monday free. Many students are accustomed to having two or three classes on one day, and so this would not have been extremely overwhelming. Another more effective solution is to also offer intensive courses in the week before the Fall semester begins. The building is already in use due to Legal Methods and Orientation so it does not seem particularly arduous to facilitate. This would also provide students more flexibility in determining their schedules (i.e., when best to schedule the intensive), and would avoid the logistical nightmare of having to arrive multiple days before New Year’s Eve. Lastly, the Faculty could offer at least one virtual intensive which would help give another option to students, and potentially get an even wider array of visiting professors.
However, the decision to begin 1L classes on January 2 is inexcusable. It is a particularly baffling decision given that for upper-year students, second semester classes began on January 9. Firstly, although the foundational classes are very important, I am not convinced that they require more time than upper-year classes. Secondly, even if that were the case, why not merely start first-year exams later? The exam period in first semester lasted eight days for 1Ls and this semester it is 17 days long. Before someone points out that this time around 1Ls have a third exam, it is important to note that the first 1L exam only takes place on April 14—the fourth day after exams commence, and their last exam takes place on April 21, so it is not as though this extra time is used to space out their exams particularly effectively. As myself and many others can attest, 1L is a very stressful year and I think most students would have appreciated a greater reprieve in the form of a longer winter break to rest and recover.
