Students forced to balance religion, class on holiday

By Jacquelyn Nixon

Daily Staff Reporter

In addition to repenting, many Jewish students had breakfast, lunch and dinner on their minds as they broke the Yom Kippur fast last night.

Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, is the 10th day of repentance and is one of the most important holidays of the Jewish faith.

Some students traveled home to celebrate the holiday with family and for those students who remained at the University, on campus services ran through the weekend and yesterday.

As a result of the holiday, many students in the Jewish community chose to take the day off from classes.

Those students who aren't Jewish, like LSA sophomore Laura Nussel, may have noticed a drop in yesterday's class attendance.

"There was a significant drop in the group in my accounting class," Nussel said. "There are supposed to be 300 students but today there seemed to be a lot of room."

LSA sophomore Jessica Ollendorff also noticed a drop in attendance. "My criminology discussion is more than half Jewish. I feel that (the University) should take heed to more different groups' religious needs. This is a really big holiday for the Jews," Ollendorff said.

Nussel said, "I think it's a good idea to recognize more religions and observe not all the holidays, but the really important ones."

The University policy on religious observances contains a clause that allows students to miss class if it conflicts with their religious holidays.

University Dean of Students Frank Cianciola said "the University has come out in honoring students' religious celebrations."

Some students have trouble getting excused absences from professors, said John Matlock, assistant provost and director Office of Multicultural Affairs. "They were instructed to talk to the department chair or instructor and it was always resolved."

LSA freshman Sarah Kruman said that she experienced some frustration since she was going to miss all of her classes.

"One of my professors was discussing what was going to be on the midterm during the class I missed. Now I'm going to have to go out of my way to get the notes," Kruman said.

Unlike Kruman, LSA freshman Brett Mountain has only experienced positive reactions to the holiday observance.

"One of my classes was Hebrew, and it was canceled since the majority of students are Jewish," he said.

"So far my experiences have been positive. The teachers I have this semester consider it an important holiday," Mountain said.

Nussel said that the University is moving away from scheduling vacations during religious holidays.

"What used to be Easter break is now in February. I don't get the day off for Good Friday and that's a major holiday for my religion," Nussel said.

Kruman said, "I really think that it's the holiest day of the year. Breaks are worked around the holiest days of the Christian calendar, so I don't see why they can't do it for this one day."

JEFF HURVITZ/Daily

LSA freshmen Mike Seider, Nate Winter, Amy Jaick and Lance Emanuel look over a prayer book.