Class was in session this year on Labor Day in an attempt to prevent freshmen from going home for the long weekend and staying there rather than returning to school, but retention rates for the weekend remained the same.

Director of Student Success and Retention Kathy Stone said 24 students withdrew after Labor Day weekend this year, which was the same number that withdrew last year.

Stone added that this may have been affected by the date of Labor Day this year. Labor Day typically falls on the first full weekend of the semester but this year it ended the second full weekend of the semester.

The Board of Trustees approved the replacement of Labor Day with a one-day fall break for the 2010-2011 school year in October of 2010. This year’s new fall break was Oct. 18.

Student, faculty and staff reactions to the switch in days off have been mixed since the decision was made last year, but the majority of students seem to be in favor of having both days off after experiencing the new schedule this year.

“I think we should have both like all the public schools have,” sophomore Danielle Zander said.

Junior Amanda Trigg said she liked fall break but thought students should have both days off. Senior Cara Smith agreed.

“It was nice to have it broken up a little bit,” Smith added.

Senior Ali Powell said a longer break would’ve made the change more “legitimate.”

“I thought it was better than having Labor Day because Labor Day was so close to summer and things weren’t getting intense academically yet,” Powell said. “[But] as much as that day was appreciated, it didn’t really count as a fall break.”

Student senate passed a resolution Feb. 17 last year stating that AU should have a fall break because there are more breaks during spring semester than fall, and because three other Ohio colleges and universities with similar academic calendars have fall breaks in October.

The resolution to have classes on Labor Day and institute a fall break instead was passed by faculty senate May 8 last semester with a vote of 22-11 and two abstentions.

For a previous Collegian article, faculty senate president Dr. Carl Walley said the resolution was recommended by Provost Dr. Frank Pettigrew and Noel-Levitz, a consulting firm AU hired in asldjfasldf., in order to give new students more time to adjust to college life before going home for an extended period of time.

Having class on Labor Day was just one change Ashland University made this year to help improve retention rates.

“The president [of AU] has made retention an initiative for the entire university,” Stone said.

Retention rates have been gradually declining since 2002, when retention was 75.8 percent, according to Stone. This year, retention was 69.6 percent.

Retention rates measure the number of freshmen who enroll in the fall and return the following fall as sophomores. This number is measured at the end of the third week of school, giving time to record the number of students who enroll but do not actually attend or who withdraw from the university early in the semester, according to Stone.

The university has formed a retention committee consisting of representatives from numerous departments on campus to help improve retention rates. Meanwhile, the Office of Student Success and Retention has been working with other offices on campus to help new students adjust to life at AU.

Stone said her office sent an email to parents with tips about how to talk to their freshman students to help them avoid homesickness. She said the email included tips such as the importance of asking students about their life on campus, such as what their classes are like and who they eat with.

Resident Assistants called the new students on their floor the night before students moved onto campus this semester, admission representatives sent welcome emails the first day of school, and M&Ms were placed in new students’ mailboxes, Stone said.

The president’s cabinet and a group of staff and administrators began a program called the Leadership Cohort to mentor new students. Sixty students were chosen at random to receive guidance from one of the mentors. AU President Dr. Fred Finks is one of the mentors.

“It’s been kinda cool when the president calls a student and says, ‘I’m going to be your mentor,'” Stone said.

In addition to the mentor program, the Office of Student Success and Retention implemented a computer-based program called Hobson’s Retain that helps faculty monitor students’ progress. They can recommend Office of Student Success and Retention meet with students who may need help with academics or adjusting to AU, such as if they have poor attendance or low test scores.

Stone said they plan to continue both the Leadership Cohort and the Hobson’s Retain programs in the future as part of the ongoing retention improvement plan.