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Two sessions will now be offered for the upcoming 2013 summer semester. Senior Vice President and Assistant Superintendent of Academic and Student Affairs Robert Bell confirmed that the summer term will be twelve weeks long and will be split into two six-week sessions—the first one starting on May 13, and the second on June 24.  

“This will allow for classes to be scheduled that will be either eight weeks or 12 weeks in duration,” Bell said in an e-mail.

The two-session summer semester was initially announced in a flier placed in faculty and staff mailboxes, and in an advertisement published in last week’s issue of the Courier.

This is a stark contrast to what was previously said by President Mark Rocha who initially said that despite the cancellation of winter, there would be no guarantee that there would be a two-session summer semester, or that there would even be classes at all.

“Whether we have the money to fund [summer] is an open question at this point. Will there be classes? We hope,” Rocha said in an interview on August 30.

Although Bell confirmed that both sessions will indeed have classes, he did supplement the guarantee with the addendum that there will only be two sessions “if it is determined [it] best meets the needs of students.”

Even though the tentative three-semester calendar has been established through the administration, controversy remains over its implemetation.

“There is no guarantee of anything under a tentative calendar,” said Krista Walter, co-chair of the committee that created and submitted the original calendar that included both a winter and summer intersession.

“It is not an official, legal calendar, hence the adjective ‘tentative,’ ” she continued. “This tentative calendar comes directly from Rocha. It has been unilaterally imposed despite heavy student and faculty opposition.”

The first summer session will include a number of specialized instructional periods that look to accommodate those who have most been affected by the elimination of winter. The beginning of the first summer session (summer session I) will have a six-week instructional period that will cater to students who are within 12 units of transferring or graduating.

Additionally, students who planned to work over winter, or had travel plans, will also be accommodated, according to Bell.

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