Several students and faculty members are expressing concern about significant academic changes, including a mandatory summer session and a new course structure, under investigation by a University taskforce.

The taskforce, dubbed the Alternative Academic Calendar Committee, is “strong(ly) leaning” toward converting to a four-credit, four-course-per-semester curriculum, said Douglas Jones, a member of the committee and an associate dean in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The committee is also investigating a calendar that would consist of two 14-week semesters and one 10-week mandatory summer session for all rising juniors.

The committee is seeking student feedback on the proposals this week and plans to distribute a survey in the Marvin Center to gauge opinions of academic changes. It will also be available online at sa.gwu.edu.

Charles Karelis, chairman of the committee, said criteria for looking at new options are based on what will best utilize University resources and provide the best educational improvement. But faculty members are expressing concerns about effects such changes would have on everything from academics to student life.

Jones said SEAS would need a waiver if GW officials decided to implement either of the proposals.

“(SEAS) has a different educational paradigm,” Jones said, noting that engineering students have a regimented course schedule requiring them to take specific classes each semester.

Lilien Robinson, chair of the Faculty Senate, said professors are concerned with compensation and how programs and faculty schedules would be reconfigured around the three sessions.

“What I’d like is to have the Faculty Senate consider these matters,” Robinson said, adding she would like professors to have more influence on the decision.

Karelis said faculty would only teach two of the three semesters if GW adopts a new schedule.

But providing instructors for summer classes in smaller departments remains problematic, said Paul Duff, chair of the Department of Religion.

Professor Robert Eisen, director of the Judaic Studies department, said he worries a switch to a four-by-four system would prevent students from double majoring because they would be taking eight fewer classes during their four years.

He said the Judaic Studies department is popular among students as a second major.

The four-by-four system could also prevent students from declaring a minor, which usually requires about six courses.

Larger departments anticipated different challenges with the new academic plans. English Department Chair Faye Moskowitz said some faculty members are concerned about squeezing a 14-week course into 10 weeks for the summer.

Some administrators laud the academic benefits of a four-by-four program because students would spend more time in class, allowing for more in-depth study. However, Jones said, adminstrators from other universities using a four-by-four curriculum, such as Tufts University, said the change to fewer courses did not increase seat minutes of individual classes.

Jones said GW could still lengthen class time in a four-by-four system, as plans are still tentative.

“What we have heard … is that none of the schools that have gone to four-by-four wants to go back,” Jones said.

Moskowitz, Eisen and Duff all questioned whether short-term economic and facilities interests would dictate the administration’s final decision on both matters. They also agreed that they have not been given enough specific information to form a clear opinion.

Eisen said he is concerned the University, which received a record 18,400 applicants this year, will lose prospective students.

“If you lose your applicant pool, you’re going to lose (other ways),” he said.

Some prospective students visiting GW this week said they are opposed to the academic changes under consideration.

Jessica Douglas, a high school junior and prospective student from New York City, said she would not want to attend school in the summer but that she does not see a problem with mandating it.

However, Alex Kaplan, another prospective student from Hartford, Conn., said an expected summer would affect his opinion of GW.

“It would bug me because I usually have other plans in the summer. I just don’t see summer being associated with school,” he said.

Committee members said they hope current students voice their opinions about the proposals. Senior Amanda Mintzer, one of two students who sit on the committee, said she hopes students will take the committee’s survey seriously because its impact is incumbent upon the content and thought students put into it.

“I think (summer sessions and a four-by-four credit option) are just ways for the school to make money,” sophomore Alec Papazian said. “It’s just another way for the University to run as a business without looking at what students want.”

“Summer is just as important an education opportunity as the school year. Vacations, internships – they all help you make connections to build toward a career,” sophomore Mark Swartz said.

If rising juniors were forced to enroll in a 10-week summer session, they would not attend one of the following four semesters, Jones said.

“The reason is overcrowding … it would take some pressure off classroom facilities,” he said.

Karelis emphasized that the committee is not making suggestions or recommendations to administrators but is merely identifying the pros and cons of each possibility.

He also said the University could implement both proposals separately, adding that the committee is not disclosing its findings about each option until it files its report to administrators May 1.

-Mosheh Oinounou contributed to this report.