Like Santa Claus and his elves, some ASU employees will be working to provide student services this winter.
ASU human resources officials sent an e-mail to all ASU employees Friday, announcing that "some University offices and operations must remain open during the holidays and winter session."
The previous policy, requiring that the campus remain closed over winter break, has been in place since the mid-1990s.
The e-mail also said that managers and supervisors are "strongly encouraged to allow employees, upon request, to take vacation and compensatory time during the entire holiday period."
Senior administrators made the decision to accommodate increasing growth of the University, said Christine Cervantes, ASU human resources director.
"Managers are highly encouraged to work with employees to work out their [schedules]," Cervantes said.
The University's paid holidays for employees will be Dec. 24, 27 and 31, according to the notification.
The issue has been the subject of a debate among ASU's roughly 4,500 classified staff employees since last August, said Classified Staff Council President Thomas Walker.
Classified staff members are employees at ASU whose primary affiliation with the University is neither student nor faculty, although Walker said many classified staff members also take classes in their spare time.
The idea was formally proposed at the beginning of the fall 2003 semester, Walker said.
Although ASU's Department of Public Safety and other core departments remain open every year, most classified staff has stayed home for the past few years.
The council took an unscientific survey that attempted to get feedback on an open winter break, and Walker said that most of the nearly 150 responses were opposed to the idea.
Council members requested that ASU administrators wait one year to implement the plan because some staff members had already made holiday plans, while others were concerned that senior-level employees would have an easier time obtaining time off than the employees "lowest on the totem pole," Walker said.
Others were concerned that winter enrollment would be low for the next couple of years, until enrollment growth increased beyond current levels, Walker said.
They also feared they would have to work while there were no students to serve, he added.
ASU President Michael Crow's executive working group postponed the winter break opening until December 2004, Walker said.
The council had planned to discuss a more scientific survey and further details of the plan with the working group early in 2004, Walker said.
But he said he didn't receive further information until Friday, when ASU officials release details of the plan in the e-mail and in the staff publication ASU Insight.
Some employees' concerns are tempered by a desire to help students, Walker said.
He added that students will likely benefit from the decision, because ASU has added winter break courses in the past few years.
"The idea is, 'We've got classes, so we need to be providing services," Walker said.
Reach the reporter at nicole.saidi@asu.edu.
