Wake Forest community members received an email last week with details about the upcoming academic year and, more urgently, the Fall 2021 semester.

The email insinuated that most (if not all) classes next semester will be in-person, but students at Wake Forest focused more on the lack of a Fall Break on the calendar linked to the email. According to Executive Director for News and Communications Cheryl Walker, the calendar errantly omitted the Fall Break that university officials planned for Oct. 7-10. The calendar has been updated on the Wake Forest website to show the break.

“Fall Break dates were inadvertently left off the easier-to-read version of the calendar linked from the message,” Walker said. “The link and information were quickly updated when the error was discovered.”

Students that have heard about the break (as it has not been re-announced by the university) have expressed relief.

“It wouldn’t have been fair for the university to take away all our breaks,” said freshman Sarah Haugh. “We need time off or we will be burnt out.” 

Some students, however, seemed nonplussed about the prospect of a four-day break.

“Wake [Forest] is giving us the bare minimum,” sophomore Declan Sander said.

There will be 12 total days off next year: five in the fall and seven in the spring.

Classes will begin on Aug. 23 and will continue until Dec. 3, according to the calendar. The semester will wrap up on Dec. 15, when final grades are due at noon. In the Spring, classes will begin on Jan. 10 and end on Apr. 27, and final grades will be due on May 10 for 2022 graduates and on May 17 for the classes of 2023 through 2025.

One major change from this past fall is that students will not be expected to finish their classes from home after Thanksgiving break.

“We are hopeful that with the increasing availability of vaccines, research findings affirming the vaccines’ efficacy and the continued success of public health practices, our community will experience more of the regular rhythms of a typical Wake Forest semester,” reads the email.

The email also noted that study abroad programs — both sponsored by Wake Forest and not — will likely happen in the fall and that the university is “planning for that eventuality.” The university noted that it will require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 for all students who intend to go abroad. The university has not yet made a decision on whether to require the vaccine for students living on the Reynolda Campus next fall.

The email concluded that the next major update on Fall Semester logistics will come in July.