The Registration, Records and Calendar committee voted unanimously on Tuesday to move spring break to the second week of March starting in 2011.

Jim Ceresnak, student body president, said this vote was extremely important to him and students.

“This is a huge victory for students, and it is a huge personal victory,” he said.

Ceresnak said changing the spring break date was his main campaign goal when running for student body president in Spring 2009, and seeing the goal become reality is a big step in the right direction.

“People said it couldn’t be done. People called me a liar,” Ceresnak said. “It feels good to know that we can make changes and make a difference.”

According to Ceresnak, the change will put spring break at the same time as 11 other UNC-System universities as well as other schools throughout the southeast.

Louis Hunt, University registrar, was present at the meeting and sees the change as a good thing.

“Changing the date makes sense,” Hunt said. “It matches the other schools’ dates and is a family-friendly approach.”

According to Hunt, Ceresnak presented the committee with three criteria defending the change. By moving the break the University will accommodate families with students on more then one campus, students who have friends that go to other schools and students who take courses on more then one campus.

Hunt said the one downfall to the change is students will not be on campus to celebrate Founder’s Day.

“Founder’s Day will fall during the week of spring break, which means no real celebration,” he said.

Jennifer Wheeley, a sophomore in biological sciences, is excited about the change.

“[The new spring break date] is a great change because students don’t get to see their friends that go to other schools very often,” she said. “This allows for students to make plans with old friends, and even go on vacations with them.”

This change is just one of many to come, Ceresnak said.

“It’s important to follow through on promises, and I am proud to fulfill my top promise,” he said. “I fully intend to follow through with other promises as the year goes on.”

According to Hunt, the committee also discussed the new reading days that are being implemented for the first time during this exam period.

“There are concerns with the reading days because [students] wanted them to be the last two days during dead week,” he said. “The calendar that we set is constrained by the UNC System so we have to balance the right amount of class time.”

The committee discussed many alternatives to the reading days including having one day in the middle of exams or taking them back out of the exam schedule, he said, but no decision was made.

“The reading days are there to give students an additional opportunity to study and for faculty to hold review sessions,” Hunt said.   “We will give it a try, then solicit feedback from students right after exams to see where the reading days are most useful.”

According to Wheeley, a change in reading days is already welcome, even though it is a new addition to the exam schedule.

“Dead week is what is used as the review period,” she said. “I would rather be done two days earlier then have the extra days.”

Although no decision has been made, Hunt is impressed with the student input and feedback.

“Students have been actively engaged and we are trying to please students, faculty and staff,” he said. “We want to make a calendar that pleases everyone.”