Maier Professor of Political Economy Benjamin M. Friedman ’66 also pointed out that moving the start date of the fall semester earlier might deter faculty members from taking on positions as first-year advisers, since it would cramp the ends of their summers.

“It’s hard to believe we’re going to have more Faculty members, rather than fewer of us, signing on to advise freshmen if the time when that has to be done is in the middle of August,” he said.

Although no decisions about the calendar will be made until the Faculty concludes the current review of the undergraduate curriculum, Friedman also worried that the decision was a foregone conclusion.

“I hope that in deferring the [calendar] decision until after the Faculty has its decision, the administration is not simply going to go ahead anyway, regardless of whether we choose to change our curriculum or not” he said. “I am concerned that we are going to sacrifice intellectual aspects of what makes our curriculum better, and could make it better still, in the interest of administrative convenience.”

And Professor of History Ann M. Blair said that beginning the fall semester so soon after Labor Day would force Faculty members with children beginning school or day care to scramble.

“I have always been grateful that the most stressful day of the year for children is not also the most stressful day for professors,” she said. “There is basically no group childhood care to be had in the last week of August.”

Those who agreed with the proposal to change the calendar also cited many reasons for reform.

Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies Jay M. Harris said the new calendar would push students to be more efficient with their time during the fall semester.

“One of the advantages of the proposed calendar is that it will encourage students to budget their time, to stay much more on top of their reading during the fall than they do now, to take their exams, and have a real winter break,” Harris said. “The way we do things now...leads students to put off much of their work [and] cram before exams, which we know leads to lower retention rates.”

Mather House Master Sandra Naddaff said moving exams before winter break would have only positive ramifications for students and mental health.

“Students get no real break from the moment they come to school in September to the moment they leave,” she said.

“The winter vacation as it currently stands does not function as a real break. Many students start spring semester tired and more vulnerable. I think that offering our students a significant winter break...could go far in improving the mental health of our students.”

In a rare student comment at the Faculty meeting, Undergraduate Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 also supported a calendar change, citing his conversations with students as evidence.

“I can no longer pretend that our current exam schedule does not contribute to students’ stress and mental health problems at the College,” Mahan said. “I realized that most students really want a winter break with neither makeup work to do nor final exams looming over them.”

Also at yesterday’s meeting, the Faculty voted to approve a joint degree program between Harvard College and the New England Conservatory of Music whereby students could in five years receive a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a Master’s degree from the conservatory.

“We think there is no harm in there being a small number of excellent musicians at Harvard who would not otherwise be here and, there would be no harm to the music world to have a few more Harvard-educated musicians,” said Chair of the Department of Music Thomas F. Kelly.

The Faculty also voted to approve a proposal introduced by Dean for Research and Information Technology Paul C. Martin to allow research associates, who are more senior than post-doctorate fellows, to be officially known as Co-Principal Investigators in a move to more fully reflect their participation in significant research projects.

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