The faculty voted to start school about a week earlier beginning in 2012 in order to wrap up the Fall Term by Thanksgiving (The Dartmouth, Dartmouth Now, Boston Globe). DMS and the Tuck School will not be adopting the change.

The break between Fall and Winter, now extended to six weeks long, is still dwarfed by the fourteen-week winter break that was in effect during the early nineteenth century. Many students spent the time teaching in village schools in New England to earn money. The college modified the calendar several times beginning in the 1860s, reducing students’ ability to teach school.

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[Update 01.13.2013: Broken link to Globe removed.]