Following a decision to cancel Washburn University’s spring break next semester, students are urging the university’s administration to reconsider their decision, saying student voices were left out of the calendar process.

In a message to the university community late last week, JuliAnn Mazachek, vice president for academic affairs, announced that after a recommendation from the university’s academic calendar committee, Washburn was making the “difficulty decision” to remove the weeklong break from the spring 2021 semester.

With the change, students would return as scheduled on Jan. 16 but would go through 15 uninterrupted weeks of classes, with finals week scheduled a week earlier between May 1 and 7. Washburn officials said the change would help minimize COVID-19 transmission by reducing student travel.

“As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow both nationally and in our state, it is incumbent upon the university to design an academic schedule that minimizes opportunity