With examples of poor governance in abundance, it is refreshing to see University of Wisconsin officials are considering giving students more academic options in the face of an assault on higher education.

UW announced over the summer it is exploring the option of a three-week “winterim” between the fall and spring semesters that would allow students to explore more classes during the otherwise dead portions of January. We applaud this initiative and hope the university takes action on it quickly. We only wonder why UW had not considered this policy earlier.

Because our winter recess is so short compared to summer’s, an interim is a perfect method to keep students occupied in Madison since most cannot find jobs for a five-week period. We hope students would take the initiative to enroll in these courses, maybe knock out a general education requirement or two and stay in Madison instead of at home watching Netflix in the weeks between New Year’s Day and Martin Luther King Day.