The school calendar will soon look like its old self again.

At the Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday night, a motion was approved to hold fall break on Oct. 13 and 14. Classes will be reinstated on Monday and Tuesday the week of Thanksgiving.

The students of SMU have their Student Senate to thank for the calendar changes.

Earlier this semester, a resolution was passed to move fall break back to mid-October for the Fall 2008 semester. According to SMUDailyData.com, the Student Senate cited “student fatigue and distress from continuous classwork without a short break” in a resolution asking for the return of the mid-semester break.

Students had also created a Facebook group, “Give us our Fall Break Back!,” that had a petition asking for the break to return. More than 560 students joined the group.

In November 2006, it was decided that fall break would be combined with the Thanksgiving vacation.

“The reason we are doing this is to make it easier on students that live out of state and to allow them to have more time with their families,” said Student Senate president Katherine Tullos during the Nov. 15, 2006, meeting. “Next year’s plan is just a trial run; nothing is set in stone.”

Faculty members were also unhappy with the low attendance rates the week of Thanksgiving. They said students would take the entire week off rather than attending the Monday and Tuesday sessions before heading home for the holiday.