Palazzo explained that this academic calendar was formulated by the Board of Trustees from a recommendation by President Shirley Ann Jackson “in consultation with the academic leadership of the university, to modify the academic calendar of Rensselaer to enable significant new prospects for curricular, co-curricular, and personal growth programming that is in keeping with the spirit and reality of The Rensselaer Plan.” We feel that, while this type of modification to the academic calendar may grant new opportunities, a series of negatives will cause students to lose out. The Editorial Board is only aware of a brief consultation with a small group of student leaders, which is not sufficient student input. Although the President of the Union is a member of the Calendar Committee, we wish that a broader group of opinions had been solicited. We hope that, in the future, such decisions will be made in a way that employs a greater student voice—perhaps by working with the Student Senate and various committees—to survey the extent to which a large-scale change such as this will affect students.