Rosh Hashanah heralds new year, rekindles old dilemmas

The season of the Jewish High Holy Days begins tonight with Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of a New Year and new possibilities. For thousands of Jewish students at the University, though, the day will mean classes as usual, and the perennial tradeoff between religious and academic obligations.

The University has long recognized the right of students to freely exercise their religion. This year, as in years past, scores of students will elect to miss classes and other campus engagements for private ceremonies and family gatherings, and administrators have advised faculty to make "every reasonable effort" to accommodate those students.

But a handful of student religious leaders feel the University's policy of accommodation often falls short in the eyes of the students they represent.

In its effort to balance the academic functions of the University with the needs of an increasingly diverse student body, administrators have established a policy that is strong in principle, but often ignored by those charged with carrying it out, the leaders claim.

"It's very inconvenient," to celebrate Jewish holidays as a student, said LSA junior Heather Dreyfuss, during a Hillel open house Tuesday evening.

LSA junior Sarah Mohiuddin, a Muslim Student Association board member, conveyed a similar outlook. When asked if academic commitments had ever discouraged her from observing a Muslim holiday, she immediately answered, "Definitely."

Last year, on the final day of Ramaddan, the month-long period of fasting and prayer that many Muslims observe, Mohiuddin said she had to skip religious celebrations because of prior commitments to an organic chemistry class. Dreyfuss said she and several of her friends have also felt pressured to attend classes on religious holidays.

But many universities and secondary schools across the nation are often disrupted by widespread absenteeism on important holidays. In response, a number of school districts across the country, including schools in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., close schools on major Jewish holidays.

A lawsuit filed last month in an Ohio Federal court has presented a bold challenge to that practice. The case's outcome could undermine efforts at the University to replace the current accommodation policy with a system of official closings for major holidays.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio initiated the suit against the Sycamore Community school district, which in 1998 voted to close schools on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, citing the "significant disruption" and "turmoil" caused by absentee rates near 15 percent.

The ACLU complaint challenged the Sycamore initiative on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment ban on government endorsements of individual religions. It also alleged that the board's decision ignored its own internal rules, which permit closing schools only when more than 21.5 percent of students are expected absent.

An attorney for the Sycamore school board, Gary Winters, flatly dismissed the ACLU's charges as "inaccurate." He said the board had been wrongly accused of pandering to the interests of its Jewish students.

"The board determined that there was sufficient disruption to close school on those days," he said, rejecting the ACLU's assertion that the primary motivation was religious. He added that the board's 21.5 percent policy was an internal guideline that carried no legal obligations.

Winters said the school board's case was strongly supported by recent court decisions. He noted that in April, a Federal appeals panel in Cincinnati upheld the closing of a Federal courthouse for Good Friday, on the grounds that secular considerations like economics were the primary motivation.

The ACLU has insisted that the suit contests a unique factual scenario and that a verdict would not apply to most public institutions. But Winters said there was a chance that the case, if it reaches the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, could potentially bind schools and universities in Ohio and in three other states, including Michigan.

Despite a wide range of opinions among student religious leaders, almost all said the Sycamore closings were the beginning of a "slippery slope."

Some students, University faculty and administrators said the University should focus on strengthening its present accommodation policy, rather than create a policy to cancel classes on religious holidays.

University philosophy Prof. Carl Cohen, a former president of the Michigan ACLU, advocated what he called "tolerant universalism." He said, "I think it would be unwise to go any further down the road of making community affairs out of individual group holidays."

Religious studies Prof. Ralph Williams called for "a calendar that is profoundly secular in its reference points." But he added that courtesy should be a centerpiece of University policy on religion.

Micah Peltz, Hillel governing board chair and an LSA junior, said it is important to have a sensitive accommodation policy in place. "If a school district feels they need to go beyond that for any religious holiday where a substantial group of students is affected, I think that's great," he said.

Interim Dean for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper said "the accommodation needs to be mutual.

"If I'm willing to take the initiative to observe my religion, and the faculty is willing to meet me halfway, that's what's right for our community," she said.

Rosh Hashanah will begin tonight at sundown. Some Jews will attend services at synagogue tonight. Many practicing Jews will attend tomorrow morning, followed by a traditional family gathering in the evening. The New Year's celebration kicks off a season of the High Holy Days. Many Jews will also mark Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on September 20.

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