As college students across America are taking advantage of spring break hot spots like Cancun, the Bahamas and South Beach, University students are trapped in academia. And when the excitement has died, our spring break begins.

Why, you might ask? Because the University builds spring break around the holy days: Passover, Good Friday and Easter. New York State law requires colleges to hold a minimum of 2250 minutes of class time for each three-credit undergraduate course, that breaks down to about 41 meetings a semester for a three day a week class and 27 for a two day a week class. Administrators say they cannot afford to cut off additional days for holidays so they just schedule spring break accordingly.

While the effort to accommodate the holidays with time off is noble, it’s illogical to make it the deciding factor for spring vacation. Spring break is the week where college students take the kind of vacations they really want to take. It affords them the opportunity to let loose with students from other colleges and serves as a timely solace from the mid-semester stress. In addition, when break is over (April 13 this year) it leaves only a month before the end of the semester. That leaves about three weeks of regular class time before the snow/study days and then exams.

It would be quite simple to subtract two or three days from the excessively long winter break and put them toward the spring holidays. University students have long expressed their objection to the break schedule. Most universities hold their spring breaks sometime in the earlier part of March, which makes this University unique in its vacation planning. The University ought to look to its peers, listen to the students and reexamine the absurd timing of the belated break. But nonetheless, The Chronicle wishes everyone a great spring break and holiday!