The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy started its fall break ahead of schedule last week, as the institution continues to cope with its continued closure due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
“I know I speak for the entire Kings Point community when I express my frustration and disappointment with the current government shutdown and its impact on the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy,” wrote U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent James Helis in a statement posted on the academy’s Web site. “While all the service academies are being forced to make changes as a result, the impact on the USMMA is the most severe due to the fact that our faculty and staff are nearly all civilians, and therefore subject to the shutdown furloughs that do not impact active duty military personnel.”
A contingency plan posted ahead of the shutdown by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees the academy, called for the academy to vacate its campus if the shutdown lasted for longer than a week. With Democrats and Republicans still at an impasse in Washington, D.C., the academy announced Oct. 3 that it would begin its fall break on Friday, Oct. 4, instead of as originally scheduled on Nov. 1.
Helis wrote in his Oct. 3 statement that the shutdown, and the uncertain status of the campus going forward, had created “tremendous strain” for midshipmen and their families.
“By ‘swapping’ fall break from November to next week, we can both offer a greater degree of certainty and minimize the disruptive impact the shutdown is having on our academic calendar,” Helis wrote.
Helis added that had the academy not moved the break it could have been forced to cancel it altogether to make up for lost academic days.
Should the shutdown continue through the break, the academy will be forced to shut down on Oct. 15, according to another posting on the academy’s Web site.
Travel costs home for the abruptly rescheduled vacation were not subsidized by the academy, according to the Web posting, but the academy does plan on compensating families for travel back to campus if the closure continues past Oct. 15.
Students who could not travel home for the break will still have basic services, including dining halls, available on campus during the break, but the academy did not say whether those services would continue during an extended shutdown.
The service academy, which trains midshipmen for military service and careers in the maritime industry, ceased its operations Oct. 1 after Congress failed to approve funding for the federal government amid Republican demands to modify or defund President Barack Obama’s signature health care law
“We will be out of the office due to a lapse in funding. Please call back after news reports advise of a resumption of services by all federal agencies,” was the only comment from the academy available to the Blank Slate Media – a voicemail message left by the academy’s furloughed external relations staff.
The academy is overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which like other federal agencies stopped its non-essential operations after the funding deadline passed at midnight on Monday.
The department’s contingency plan noted that due to the academy’s year-round operations, a lengthy shutdown could disrupt the school’s academic schedule.
“Because the academy’s academic calendar is nearly-year round, it will be difficult to make up more than a few lost days of classes,” U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson Meghan Keck wrote “A prolonged shutdown could endanger the Academy’s accreditation.”
The department’s Maritime Administration, the division which oversees the academy, was scheduled to furlough 451 of its 830 staff, according to the contingency plan.
The federal government entered the shutdown after the latest continuing resolution to fund its operations expired Oct. 1
Congressional Republicans demanded alterations to Obama’s Affordable Care Act and passed a funding resolution that would have delayed key provisions of the law, but Obama and fellow Democrats insisted on a resolution that would have funded the government without conditions.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-controlled Senate failed to agree on a measure, sending the government into its first shutdown since 1996.
