Ualbany proposes fewer holidays
Online petition asks to keep Jewish, other faith observances
Citing the need for more class time, the University at Albany is considering removing Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur from its list of official campus holidays.
The proposal has prompted an online petition opposing the plan, which would put Ualbany on the same holiday schedule as state government agencies.
Also on the chopping block: the morning after Easter Sunday, which has been an official day off as well.
University officials stress that the plan hasn’t been finalized. And if Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are no longer official holidays, neither students nor faculty members would be penalized
for skipping class on those days. State laws requiring religious accommodations would prevent, for instance, administering an important exam or assignment that students couldn’t make up during some other time period.
They also emphasized that the changes aren’t specific to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Rather, they are looking to end holidays that are not state government days off.
Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year, which usually falls in September. It is followed by Yom Kippur, or the day of atonement, during which observant Jews fast and pray for forgiveness of sins committed during the previous year. The two days comprise the High Holy Days, the most important Jewish holidays of the year.
That’s why the petition signers believe the days should remain as official holidays.
“The disruption will cause significant stress and anxiety to the Jewish student and faculty population that will be required to manage the observation of faith vs. academics during these “Days of Awe,” reads part of the petition on Change.org urging the campus to keep the days as official holidays.
The Days of Awe describes the Rosh Hashana/ Yom Kippur period. Nearly 900 students had signed the online petition as of Friday.
Ualbany is required by state law to offer 15 weeks of classes per semester, spokesman Jordan Carleoevangelist said. And adding in the growing popularity of summer and winter session courses, there is less leeway for official holidays, he said.
Growth in the January course offerings, which students can use to earn more course credits, has been particularly rapid. Enrollment grew by 47 percent from 2014 to 2018 — from 1,150 students to 1,691.
“It has absolutely not been considered lightly but when we consider the academic calendar, the primary purpose is to serve students,” Carleo-evangelist said.
The petition cites the University at Albany Hillel student executive board as opposing the change.
Leaders of the group could not be reached on Friday.
The campus’ Student Association Senate earlier in the week defeated a proposed resolution against the changes. Chairman Brandon Holdridge, in an email, said opponents of the move noted that many
students go to Ualbany because it recognizes Jewish holidays. But those who didn’t oppose the plans said they realized that keeping the holidays would be unfair to other faiths that don’t get their holidays off.
Nearly 5 percent of the school’s undergraduates identified as being Jewish, according to a 2017 sampling.
Holidays at Ualbany over the years have come on and off the official calendar.
Good Friday was a day off as were the two major Muslim holidays, Eid al-fitr and Eid adha, said the Rev. Sandy Damhof, a Protestant minister at the campus Interfaith Center. And the morning after Easter Sunday has been an official day off as well.
Carleo-evangelist stressed that the proposal “is not specific to Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana. If adopted, it would end the practice of suspending classes on or around any holidays that are not also legal/government holidays.”
As Ualbany looks at these changes, though, the Albany City school district, which has the Jewish holidays off, is looking at adding Eid al-fitr as an official day off next year, spokesman Ron Lesko said.