Sarah Rolka Asst. Features Editor
Starting in the Fall 2026 semester, there will be a new block schedule and changes to the core curriculum for incoming students.
Manhattan University’s (MU) current block schedule went into effect 2014 to 2015; however, there have been complaints over the years from students, faculty and staff. Often reporting that open periods were limited for events and meetings and that there was less flexibility for class schedules – especially for commuters. With this change that was officially voted on Dec. 2 2025, the Education Affairs Committee (EAC) and the school hope to fulfill the needs of everyone on campus to the best of their ability.
JASPER CENTRAL / COURTESY
Bridget Chalk, Ph.D., Interim Provost, commented on the change mentioning how for the last 10 years, there has been a built up momentum for change to better serve the population of MU.
“There was a momentum to change the schedule to be able to better serve the needs of everyone…so we did all of that [sending out surveys] before it was decided to change, but it was the accumulation of multiple years of dissatisfaction with the way the [current] block schedule was set up,” Chalk said.
These surveys that were sent out came from the Student Government Association (SGA) last semester. They collected feedback from students regarding whether they wanted the schedule to change after when the new block schedule was officially proposed.
Delaney Briggs, VP of Academic affairs for SGA and a student representative for the EAC, spoke to The Quadrangle about collecting various student responses when she held an event on the quad.
“We had over 90 responses…on the students’ opinion and I had lots of great conversations with people just getting their honest opinions on what they thought,” Briggs said. “I had flyers out with examples [of the new block schedule] so people could visually see what they were voting for… I do believe, to the best of my abilities, I held the event to get the most student opinions.”
Briggs did acknowledge that while many students are still unaware of this change, there have been chances to pitch in thoughts and learn more about it.
“For students who are unaware that this was even happening, there actually have been tons of emails sent out and meetings [held by SGA] about this that [students] could’ve attended,” Briggs said. “Unfortunately, it’s hard to get everyone’s feedback with the amount of or the lack of student involvement on campus.”
Aine Kolpa, a sophomore biology major, current events coordinator and president of Sanctus Artem for Fall ‘26, voiced her concerns for Sanctus Artem regarding scheduling events in cadence with the new block schedule.
“I think it’ll be harder because I don’t think we’re going to shorten our club-time from two hours to one hour,” Kolpa said. “We probably won’t hold our club events within that timeframe… we’ll probably send out a poll and then go from there to find the best time for everyone.”
Chalk also acknowledged that this will affect certain meeting times for clubs and other scheduled events.
“It will be required that clubs change their meeting in accordance with this new schedule,” Chalk said. “That was only the open period because it was the open period in the last version of the block schedule. We got a lot of feedback that there was not enough time for clubs to meet because there were only two open periods a week and they were chock full of events and meetings… So those things are also going to have to be shifted, and we’re going to have to work to build a new cadence.”
However, Kolpa did acknowledge that the school, with this new schedule, continues to promote involvement on campus with the hope that club events will be more spread out over the semester to allow the student body to partake.
“I do think [MU] will promote club activity and everything, especially because I know Wednesdays, people cram everything into that one free period…then this will help spread it out every day,” Kolpa said. “It also will make more clubs active on campus, because they know that everyone has that free time…”
Annalise Dreher, a freshman accounting major, also voiced her opinions regarding the incoming block schedule.
“I understand how a lot of people could be complaining about it and wanting this to be changed, and I like that they did it,” Dreher said. “I’m a little upset with the lack of communication for it…I think the fact that it doesn’t affect me that much is what makes me not too worried. I’m excited for the people who think it’s positive…but I’m pretty neutral,” Dreher said.”
As previously mentioned, in addition to the changing block schedule there will also be “staged” changes to the core curriculum for incoming students only. The proposed curriculum will seek to unite the three schools with a more well-rounded core. The school and the EAC hope that this change will allow students to learn and be more rounded academically.
“For the past year and a half, there has been a committee charged to design a university-wide core curriculum,” Chalk said. “What that means is that our current general education requirements are not the same in any of the schools, so there is no unified core curriculum for all of our students. That [unified core curriculum] is something that would be a benefit to our university in many, many ways.”
Each stage will be implemented in the Fall semester of each new school year, in line with the time incoming students enter the school and start their first year. With this ongoing project, the committee will be rolling the proposed curriculum for Fall 2026 freshman and continue on from there.
“As you can imagine, it’s a complicated project because the requirements that we have in place have been agreed on for a very long time, and faculty are the stewards of the curriculum. So faculty need to collaborate on and vote on any changes that are made to it,” Chalk said. “Because it’s such a big change, the committee determined with the vote of faculty members, to just redesign the first year part of the core for next year.”
With the spring semester coming to a close with finals, the student population can only wait to see the effects of these incoming changes in the fall.