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More than four in five engineering students say a switch to a year-round academic calendar would be harmful to Cal Poly, according to a recent survey conducted by the Engineering Student Council. The results and an intense student meeting this week underscore immediate worries about internships, club projects and housing that could affect students as early as next academic year.
About 25 students gathered for the council’s discussion on Tuesday; the session lasted nearly two hours rather than the scheduled one, and ended only when the room had to be locked. Several attendees told the council they would consider leaving the university if the change proceeds without protections.
Top concerns: internships, clubs and campus life
Students voiced a cluster of practical problems that would follow a year-round model. Their central fear is loss of uninterrupted summers that many rely on for paid internships and cooperative work experiences.
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Engineering students overwhelmingly oppose year-round calendar, warn it would hurt Cal Poly
- Internships: Students worry that a trimmed or redistributed summer term will make it harder to secure traditional summer positions or full-time co-ops.
- Student clubs: Competitive teams that build large projects over a full summer — including the Racing Club’s car — could lack key contributors when leadership or members are on different terms.
- Housing and social life: Off‑campus lease timing and friends taking different semesters off could fragment social networks; several students also pointed to limited air conditioning on campus during summer months.
“How am I supposed to get a summer internship if I don’t have a summer?” one freshman ambassador asked rhetorically, capturing the immediate career anxieties driving much of the debate.
Administrative response and proposed fixes
Interim College of Engineering Dean Robert Crockett attended the meeting and answered questions, though the session was organized to collect student feedback rather than to negotiate policy. Crockett characterized the university’s planning process as flexible and still evolving, saying parts of the transition are being developed in real time.
After the meeting he clarified by email that upper administration has been in regular contact with the colleges, and he framed the absence of a single mandate as an opportunity to tailor approaches. He suggested several options the college is exploring, including expanded co-op programs, international exchanges, and short-term, campus-based alternatives that would occupy what would otherwise be empty months.
Students were skeptical. Council members pointed to institutions like Dartmouth that run year-round systems, but noted those campuses are much smaller and have different infrastructure. Cal Poly Racing president Riya Mehta questioned the scale of any plan that relies on converting students into co-op slots: where would thousands of placements come from, she asked.
Several students also said on-campus alternatives — proposed as a stopgap to keep students engaged locally — would require more space and faculty than the college currently has available. Others expressed reluctance to spend a “summer” term working on campus rather than pursuing off-campus internships or rest.
What happens next
Engineering Student Council co-president Lakshana Viswa described the survey and the meeting as an effort to make student concerns visible to administrators and to help shape any transition. The council plans to continue collecting feedback and to press for concrete safeguards around internships, club continuity and housing timing.
For students, the stakes are immediate: changes to the academic calendar can alter career timelines, project planning for competitive teams, and the practical logistics of living off campus. Administrators now face the task of balancing institutional goals with those day-to-day impacts — and doing so quickly enough that affected students can plan for next year.
