AMHERST — The University of Massachusetts is pushing back its commencement ceremony to late May beginning next year, the result of a revised academic calendar that features a new six-week winter session.

But the decision by the Faculty Senate, causing the 2023 commencement to be nearly two weeks later than this year, could mean increased costs related to public safety, and potentially hurt local businesses, Town Manager Paul Bockelman said.

“This new graduation date would allow for several additional weeks in May where the demands on our public safety teams are heightened and will be a challenge for the town to sustain,” Bockelman said.

He adds that the town was not able to offer input to UMass about the potential ramifications on police, fire and medical coverage of the later graduation, to be held toward the end of May for the first time since 2009.

In consultation with the administration and input from students and others in the campus community, the Faculty Senate on April 7 approved establishing the winter session. By doing so, the spring semester will have to begin at a later date.

Beginning in 2010, and in normal years not affected by the pandemic, UMass undergraduate commencement has been in early to mid-May, and since 2011 the main ceremony has been on Friday afternoons. When implemented, the earlier commencement was viewed as beneficial to graduating seniors, who could start their careers, as well as to students competing for summer work.

UMass spokesman Edward Blaguszewski said academic reasons were paramount for having a new winter session and making the calendar adjustments. “The core of it is the opportunity to help students to fulfill their requirements,” Blaguszewski said.

Blaguszewski elaborated that research by the university found that student demand for a six-week winter session is high because it gives students the ability to catch up or stay on track for their degrees. The current 3½-week winter session was seen as too condensed for student learning and not as pedagogically sound.

“In regard to timing, the consensus that emerged is to extend classes and graduation later into May, rather than beginning the academic year earlier, in August,” Blaguszewski said.

The change, he said, was also made a year in advance, providing time for planning.

According to the Faculty Senate, the new winter session, starting Dec. 21 this year and running until Feb. 3, 2023, “will enable students to take for-credit courses outside of the traditional fall and spring semesters — providing increased learning opportunities, decreased time to graduation and lighter Fall/Spring semester loads.”

Under the adopted calendar, the spring semester would start Feb. 6 and run until May 25, with commencement weekend happening May 26 to May 28, 2023.

Both town officials and the business community have seen the earlier spring semester and graduation as a benefit. For restaurants and hotels, in particular, the UMass commencement in early May has meant that families don’t have to compete with graduations taking place at the other area colleges later in the month. In recent years, graduations at Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire and Amherst colleges have been held in the two weeks after the UMass commencement.

The change in commencement at UMass could mean a significant negative impact that will lead to frustration for parents and friends of graduates, Amherst Business Improvement District Executive Director Gabrielle Gould said.

“The BID is quite taken aback by this decision and really wonders at the thought process behind it,” Gould said.

With hotels fully booked and reservations sold out at restaurants for several weekends, Gould said she worries that this will mean graduations all concentrated in a shorter time frame. Restaurants can’t simply add capacity and staff, and hotels can’t add rooms.

“Seeing the colleges and university stagger weekends made sense,” Gould said. “This simply from an economic standpoint makes zero (sense).”

Next spring, college graduations would be spread over two weekends, with Smith, Mount Holyoke and Hampshire college commencements taking place on May 21, followed the next weekend by UMass and Amherst College.

Bockelman said if the local business community had been consulted, the university would have heard that retail establishments will struggle to meet demand if multiple graduation ceremonies and alumni weekends are held at the same time.

The earlier commencement has also been welcomed by public safety officials, in part because it means fewer warm weather weekends suitable for large gatherings and neighborhood disturbances.

May weekends generally have been quiet for the past decade, since students are either studying for final exams or have already left town. That is a big difference from what used to happen, such as on May 3, 2003, when a so-called Hobart Hoedown on Hobart Lane led to 45 arrests, a dozen injuries, the burning of a PVTA bus stop and damage to police cruisers.

That came six years to the day after a similar event at the same location, where 50 arrests were made, six students were injured and responders were struck by mudballs thrown from a co-ed mud wrestling pit.

Even though students will be in town for more warm-weather days, Blaguszewski said the hope is the university’s extensive efforts to keep the peace over the years will surmount any problems.

“Building on the successful collaborations we’ve had in recent years with our many on-campus and off-campus partners in Amherst, we anticipate working together to address any concerns about student behavior,” Blaguszewski said.

And Blaguszewski said that the expanded winter session, and the nicer weather later in the spring, should mean more students patronizing local businesses and enhancing their economic impact.

Bockelman said the town will speak to UMass officials to apprise them of the worries.

“We depend on a strong, communicative partnership with the university to recognize the impact its decisions have on our community, and we look forward to the opportunity to further address our concerns on this matter with university officials,” Bockelman said.

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