Shorter Winter Intersession Raises Concerns Over Student Access

The North Orange County Community College District has shortened its Winter Intersession. The District’s published 2025-26 academic calendar lists the credit Winter Intersession as December 17, 2025 through January 28, 2026. The 2026-27 calendar lists it as January 4 through January 27, 2027 — a reduction of roughly two weeks of calendar time, and a larger reduction in instructional days once the December holiday period is accounted for.

A shorter term means fewer sections can be scheduled. Students and faculty have raised concerns that this will fall hardest on those in lab-intensive Career Education programs, whose fall and spring schedules are largely filled by required laboratory courses and who have relied on winter to complete general education requirements.

Separately, the California Public Employment Relations Board issued a decision on December 11, 2025 finding that the District unlawfully retaliated and discriminated against United Faculty officers Christie Diep, Linda Borla, and Katie King in connection with their requests to teach English courses during the 2023-24 Winter Intersession, and bypassed the union by dealing directly with employees on intersession assignments. The District was ordered to make the three faculty members whole for at least one course each.

Whether the winter offerings the union sought will now be scheduled is a separate and unresolved question. Faculty are not of one mind on it: at the District’s November 18 and December 16, 2025 board meetings, Cypress College faculty spoke on both sides — some urging that transfer-level English be offered in winter, others defending the English Department’s decision not to offer it, citing success-rate data, enrollment patterns, and course structure.

Community members who want the longer intersession restored can contact the Board of Trustees and the Chancellor, or address the Board during public comment. The Board’s next regular meeting is Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at 5:30 pm in the Anaheim Campus Board Room, 1830 W. Romneya Drive. Note that the second meeting of each month is conducted as a workshop discussion rather than a regular business meeting, so it’s worth confirming in advance how public comment and any action items will be handled.

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