Dr Destlers Response
Gregory, Your web site on the quarter vs semester debate is nicely done, but it is fundamentally wrong in its assumptions. We will be moving to a "flexible 5x3 semester system" in which most courses are 3 credits but a number (6-8 in a typical student program) will be 4 credits. In that case, the total number of hours of instruction is almost identical to that currently offered to our students in the quarter system.
View my response

Students

stats from a students' perspective

figure 1. quarters

figure 2. semesters

fall

winter

spring

summer

fall

spring

summer

Courses x Credits per term

credit worth ratio	number of courses	classroom hours	tuition rate
1.5 : 1	-16%	-6.25%	+5.43%
quarter : semester	students will take 16% less courses during their tenure	students will have 6.25% less classroom hours	estimated, based on the past 3 years

	quarter	semester
classroom hours per course	40	45
avg courses per term	x4	x5
avg hours per term	160	225
terms per year	x3	x2
classroom hours per year	480	450

FIGURE 3. Weeks In School

	9		10
	3
	3		2
	30		30
q		s

* Orange: Courses, Light Orange: Exams, Gray: Break; Only shows data for the "main" terms.

Semester Info

Over 4 years...	quarter	semester
...classroom hours	1,920	1,800
...courses	48	40
...credits	192	120
...terms	12	8

lost classroom time

lost courses

every year, students get...

(estimated)

48 years

28,090

quarters	48 credits in 480 hours	1 credit = 10 hours
semesters	30 credits in 450 hours	1 credit = 15 hours

14,045 students will sit in a classroom 421,350 hours less per year

14,045 students will take 28,090 less courses per year

Figure 4. Year Schedule (mouse over for description and dates)

quarter
semester
	aug sep oct nov dec jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug

Voting

breakdown of student, student government, academic senate and staff council voting

Figure 5. Student Government First Official Vote
quarters		14
semesters		4
other		0
abstention		1

For Quarters	For Semesters
Senators COLA, CAST, KGCOE, CIAS, COS, NTID, GCCIS, Freshmen, Women Representatives Residence Halls Association, Off Campus Apartment Student Association, Greek Council, Student Athlete Advisory Committee, NTID Student Congress	Senators SCOB, Graduate Representatives OUTspoken, AALANA Collegiate Association
	Abstain
	Representative Global Union

Semester Preference Vote

* 5-3 is the option RIT settled on

Quarter Preference Vote

Figure 6. Student Government Personal Ballot
quarters		0
semesters		28
other		2
abstention		1

	All Students	Transfer Students	"Informed" Students	SG (Personal Ballot)
quarters	64%2,332	56%663	69%541	0%0
late start	10%337	13%151	8%60	~
2 block winter	7%241	6%70	6%44	~
semesters	18%656	25%294	18%143	90%28

total	3,606	1,178	788	31

Students Surveyed	Difference of Votes	Biggest Turnout	Facebook Groups
3,606	100%	GCCIS	12
only students were allowed to vote	percentage of representatives who, in the personal ballot, voted differently than the students they represent	GCCIS students had the largest response to the survey	twelve facebook groups were created in response to the switch

Academic Senate Vote Breakdown new

Figure 7. Academic Senate Vote, 1/14/10
quarters		7
semesters		24
abstain		4

For Semesters	For Quarters
Heath Boice-Pardee (for Mary-Beth Cooper) VP/SA Matt Danna SG President Josh Bauroth SC Chair Jorge Diaz-Herrera Dean GCCIS Bob Barbato SCOB Victor Perotti SCOB Liz Lawley GCCIS Sylvia Perez-Hardy GCCIS Steven Diehl CIAS Patti Lachance CIAS Susan Larkin CIAS Latty Goodwin EDF Kris Mook EDF Tom Cornell CoLA Tim Engstrom CoLA Mike Laver CoLA Chris Schreck CoLA Linda Bryant NTID Dawn Tower Dubois NTID Ed Mineck NTID Tom Policano NTID Larry Quinsland NTID Heidi Miller (for Mike Kotlarchyk) COS Sophia Maggelakis COS	Carl Lundgren CAST George Zio CAST Steve Boedo KGCOE Eli Saber KGCOE Joseph Voelkel KGCOE Charlotte Thoms NTID Paul Rosenberg COS
	Abstain
	Andrew Moore (for Ashok Rao) Dean S. Manian Ramkumar CAST Paul Tymann GCCIS Zoran Ninkov COS

Semester Option Vote

* 5-3 is the option RIT settled on

Quarter Option Vote

Staff Council Vote Breakdown new

Figure 8. Staff Council Vote, December 17 2009
quarter*		3
semester*		26
abstain		3
	* Staff Council was voting on "Current calendar; split winter quarter" for quarters, and "4 for 4 Semesters" for semesters. (RIT went with 5x3 Semesters)

Faculty

statistics from the perspective of the faculty

Figure 9. Faculty Course Load; Semesters v Quarters

quarters

semesters

Course load description

	avg hours/week	avg classes/week	avg courses/term
quarters	8	4	2
semesters	7.5	5.5	2.5

References

Initial Information regarding the Conversion Process, February 11, 2010 email
Academic calendar announcement from President Destler, February 10, 2010 email
RIT Fast Facts, http://www.rit.edu/overview/fastfacts.html
SG 2010 Calendar Decision, http://www.rit.edu/sg/calendar/
SG Voting Results, http://www.rit.edu/~w-sgweb/calendar/wp- content/uploads/2010/01/Voting-Results.pdf
Student Survey Results, http://www.rit.edu/~w- sgweb/calendar/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Calendar-Student-Survey- Results.pdf
Academic Senate Minutes, Jan 14 2010, https://ritdml.rit.edu/bitstream/handle/1850/11437/AcademicSenateMinutesJ an142010_02-04-2010.pdf
Staff Council Minutes, December 17 2009, http://staffcouncil.rit.edu/docs/minutes/09-12-17.pdf

Edits

Changed "percentage of representitives who voted differently than the students they represent" to the more accurate "percentage of representatives who, in the personal ballot, voted differently than the students they represent"
Changed "absent" to the more accurate "abstention"
Clarified Figure 3 ("weeks in school")
Removed "mostly negative" from the "Facebook Groups" section; as it potentially seems biased
Added Academic Senate voting data
Added Staff Council voting data
Added list of how representitives voted for SG, as well as Quarter and Semester preferences

Comments

Matt Danna (President of SG, via Facebook wall post): "Some pretty awesome visuals Greg. The only thing I saw was that average credit hours may be a bit risky to say. Many students will have a 4 credit course per semester. Many core classes like programming classes or chem, bio, physics, maths, etc. will remain 4 credit hours. Additionally, there are plans to offer mini-mesters (7-ish week courses, 2 ... See Moreper semester) as well as an intersession during winter break (which is why winter break is so long). Because of that, it's very likely students could take more classes on Semesters than Quarters. Lastly, as an advocate for student life, I don't think your visuals really account for much of what we could potentially gain on the out- of-classroom experiences. Stunning nonetheless :)"
jgclark: "I don't like how you represented Student Government in this. They officially voted on the behalf of their constituents, but they had a "personal vote" that was never meant to be known where they almost entirely voted for semesters. All that personal vote means is that those 28 people want semesters; it has nothing to do with their position in SG."
madmarigold: "SG does not prefer the secret ballot. The president of SG, who wrote that letter, seems to. SG would not have voted for quarters at all if everyone preferred the secret ballot. Most of SG is actually pretty annoyed about that, as you can expect.
Also, you're right, I don't think SG had any power at all. I think SG was asked to vote on the basis of "we're curious what sort of hardships students think they would face," rather than "you have an actual say."
EDIT: I guess I should say, I'm in SG. So this is irritating me a little, too."
madmarigold, in reference to why there are 12 more votes in the straw poll: "SG has two groups of voting members: Senators and RSO representatives. But Matt's cabinet and SSO representatives, as well as Matt and Jackie themselves, sit at the table, too. The 12 additional people would be the three SSO representatives, six cabinet members, Matt and Jackie, and the SG staff assistant."