Even though the 2007 spring election is scheduled to take place during the University of Wisconsin's spring break next semester, university officials said Friday that there would be no changes to the academic calendar.

Since the UW calendar is set years in advance, the week of spring break cannot be changed. LaMarr Billups, senior special assistant to the chancellor, said the academic calendar is based mostly on religious celebrations, so students and universities across the state are facing similar conflicts.

"The decision on when the spring break occurs has more to do with respecting people's religious rights than anything else," Billups said. "Since Passover and Easter occur in spring, the idea was to create a spring break that would allow for people's religious preferences."

But Billups said UW would do everything possible to raise awareness among students, faculty and staff about the election and candidates. According to Billups, university officials have not yet worked out the details of election preparations, but will likely make a "communications package" for both faculty and students.

"We will have some things on the website, e-mails, ads in newspapers and other things so we can make sure people know the election is coming up and know how and where to get access to absentee ballots," Billups said. "We haven't actually charted out the things we will do, but we will put those things together in the next couple weeks … and publish it in plenty of time so folks are fully aware."

Missing Election Day will not only be a problem for students, Billups noted, but also for faculty and staff who might be going out of town.

Any resident who wishes to cast a vote may fill out an absentee ballot and mail it to the City Clerk's Office before or after spring break.

Billups also said UW officials will be working together with the City Clerk's Office to make any accommodations possible that remain in accordance with Wisconsin state law and also make voting easier.

After 11 years at UW, Billups said he knows how crucial the student vote is, especially in recent years with unusually high turnouts at the polls.

City Council President Austin King, whose district is comprised mostly of UW students, said the university's involvement with the election issue is important in order to replicate the high voter turnout in the 2006 midterm elections.

And because the decision to allow Election Day and spring break to coincide was made by UW officials, King added, they should play a large role in the process.

"I think … [the university] needs to play an active and engaged role in really heavily promoting the student vote using all of the resources they have at their disposal in a non-partisan way," King said.

King added he was "not surprised" UW decided against changing spring break to accommodate Election Day, but said there is nothing city officials can do to reverse the decision.

Looking ahead, he said there are no conflicts in the university academic calendar in the next five years.