Feldman said that starting classes just after Labor Day would mean that professors interested in advising undergraduates and in preparing classes would have to return from their summer vacations at some point in August.

“Faculty don’t want to start before Labor Day,” he said, adding that some professors may choose not to advise undergraduates if it impacts their vacations. “I’d be very wary of a change in the calendar that makes us have a worse advising system than at present,” he said.

Although the Faculty is set to discuss calendar reform at its April 20 meeting, the Harvard Corporation, the higher of the University’s two governing boards, is ultimately responsible for setting the University’s calendar and approving any changes.

“I would have the feeling, if I were a member of the Corporation, that I would love to know what my faculties were thinking—particularly the FAS,” Mendelsohn said. “If I were a member of the Corporation, I would urge [Kirby] to at least take some straw votes on the issues. They’d be crazy not to.”

—Staff writer Joshua D. Gottlieb can be reached at jdgottl@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Laura L. Krug can be reached at krug@fas.harvard.edu.