Illustration by Alicia Toldi
At Colby, it’s called the Jan Plan. At Middlebury, it’s the J-Term. Williams College has Winter Study, and Amherst kicks off the New Year with Interterm. What do these terms refer to? Several NESCAC schools offer some sort of winter term that gives students the option of either spending break off campus or staying at school and enrolling in courses.
To many college students, the prospect of even more schoolwork after finals is unpalatable, but NESCAC January terms offer a far different experience from the rest of the academic year. The mission statement of the Williams Winter Study reads, “If the theme of Winter Study is experimentation, its overall goal is community-wide decompression—a stress-free month of exploration and relaxation. Most classes only meet a few times a week and all are graded pass-fail. Students use their free time to hang out with friends, try a new activity, or catch up on sleep. The student-run Free University offers a sequence of truly off-the-wall noncredit courses such as Knitting, Vegan Baking, or Swing Dancing.” The Williams mission statement certainly paints January term in a different light than a simple continuation of classes. Taylor Bickford, a current sophomore at Middlebury College, corroborates the Williams mantra in respect to his own school’s J-Term.
“The vast majority of students really like J-Term,” says Bickford. “It’s basically an extension of winter break all through January, except you’re here [at Middlebury] and you get credit for it. Academically, it’s very easy and it’s much less stressful than the rest of the school year.”
At Middlebury, students utilize J-Term in several different ways. Some students take a less demanding class in January as a reprieve from their stressful workload in the fall and spring semesters; some freshmen taking introductory language courses continue the study of that language during J-Term as a requirement for the second semester. Others take this opportunity to tackle ambitious science courses like organic chemistry while they can give the class their full attention, since all students take only one course during J-Term.
Some Connecticut College students have begun to wonder whether a January term is a viable option for our campus, but many don’t know that Conn once had a J-Term.
“Conn had something called ‘Dean’s Term’ in the late 90s, which died out mainly because of student disinterest,” says Roger Brooks, Dean of the Faculty. “It really didn’t work.”
Despite the previous failure of a J-Term at Conn, some current students remain interested.
“We certainly aren’t opposed to looking at J-Term as a possibility for Conn,” Dean Brooks continued. However, according to Armando Bengochea, Dean of the College Community, “there are some significant structural obstacles to overcome in the formation of a J-Term, not to mention a total reorientation of thinking for both students and faculty.”
Connecticut College’s winter break runs from December 21, 2011 to January 23, 2012. Since Conn currently doesn’t provide the option for a January term, there is some talk of shortening the winter break. Says Dean Brooks, “The Calendar Committee plans to meet at some point this year to consider alternate schedules that would bring faculty and students back to campus earlier in the winter break.” Bates, another NESCAC school that does not offer a January term, has a significantly shorter break than Conn, with Bates students leaving campus on December 17, 2011 and returning January 9, 2012.
A shorter winter break is a consideration that may come to fruition soon at Conn College, and a winter term, even with its rocky past at Conn, is not something that the faculty has written off entirely. According to Brooks and Bengochea, it would be a move that would require significant planning and commitment from faculty when they would otherwise be taking time off or working on their own research.
However, a January term could be a hugely helpful addition to the academic calendar for many Conn students. Students with a highly demanding major or a double major could take credited classes and thus ease the burden of work for the duration of the school year. Camels with eclectic interests could explore and expand their course variety. Students could potentially have the option of studying abroad or at a different college or university during the winter break. For many international students who don’t have the option of going home over break, January term could be a huge relief.
A January term at Connecticut College could represent the rejuvenation of a tradition. According to Bickford, the Middlebury J-Term is “very internalized” on campus; a J-Term at Conn might attain the same hallowed status. •
