Before the 2006 DPGS election, candidate Sharma Rahman asked ICU Exec to approve her taking 3 days off per week during July and August, if she was elected. This was approved in closed session, but prompted the search for a better solution to the problem which caused the request - that Masters students finish in September, so starting the handover period in July causes an overlap with their studies.
Several months later, Luis Hui has finally returned to exec with a recommendation - that the sabbatical handover period should start in August, with the new sabbs taking over in September, one month before the start of term.
The handover period is important in ensuring a smooth transition, leading to concerns that the DPGS handover could be difficult this year with only two days per week to conduct it in. Moving the handover would allow future graduate sabbaticals more time to complete research and project work before starting, whilst also pushing it away from July PhD submissions.
This of course is all very well for the handover period itself, but there is a spanner in the works - freshers. Sabbs currently have two months to fend for themselves and arrange freshers events for October. With a late start they would have only a month and be far less prepared, creating the potential for chaos.
Also included is a recommendation to move ICU sabbatical elections back by a month, to run concurrently with faculty union elections. Hacks and the student body at large would only need to endure the pain of elections once.
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