About 15 percent of Northwestern students may be playing hooky from class today. Instead of answering to professors, they’ll be following a higher calling.
Because NU does not cancel classes for Yom Kippur, Jewish students are faced with a difficult dilemma. Students can go to services and risk falling behind during the first week of school, or attend class and miss the holiest day of the year.
For some, the solution is obvious: NU should join the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 in giving students a day off for Yom Kippur, which lasts until sundown tonight.
Speech senior Aaron Reitman said he will attend services, but fears being at a disadvantage in class.
“When a student misses a class, it affects them tremendously,” Reitman said. “Once you get behind in a class, you stay behind all quarter. If NU wants to make a statement saying it is open to diversity, then they have to take into account people of all backgrounds.”
The problem particularly impacts freshmen, who have to skip class on only their fourth day of college. Education freshman Ariel Schwartz said she wouldn’t “feel right” going to class on the holiday.
“It will be stressful as a freshman to miss a day during the first week,” she said. “I’m still getting used to school.”
NU’s policy regarding the Jewish high holy days is to reschedule the first day of class if it conflicts with either Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, Weinberg Assoc. Dean Craig Bina said.
“We ask faculty to make every effort to accommodate students with such issues,” Bina said. “We do not recall any serious problem having arisen in this regard during recent times.”
Bina said conflicts arising from professors wanting to attend services are decided by individual academic departments. If a Jewish faculty member wants to cancel class in order to celebrate Yom Kippur, he or she confers with the department chair about options to reschedule the class or have it taught by another professor for that day, Bina said.
Rabbi Michael Mishkin, director of Hillel Cultural Life, said NU should be responsible only for creating an atmosphere of religious awareness on campus. Professors should be able to hold class as long as they make necessary accommodations for Jewish students, including not giving quizzes or tests on the holiday, he said.
“I think the numbers need to justify the action,” Mishkin said. “The entire NU community shouldn’t just shut down because of the Jewish community. But it is important for the university to be sensitive to the needs of Jewish students on a class-by-class basis.”
Sociology Prof. Gary Fine did just that, polling his freshman seminar to find out how many of the 10 to 15 students wanted to attend Yom Kippur services. When five students raised their hands, he canceled today’s class.
“It’s a tough issue,” Fine said. “There’s no doubt we should cancel classes if we were on a semester system. But since we are on the quarter system, a twice-a-week class only meets 18 times. Canceling 5 percent of the material makes it tricky.”
Fine said he decided to condense material into the rest of the quarter and cancel class after realizing his students would be affected.
Although many school districts across the nation, especially in cities with large Jewish populations, give students the day off, most universities join NU in holding classes.
Officials at the University of Michigan’s Dean of Students office said Yom Kippur is a recognized holiday. Class is not canceled, but students can be excused without penalty.
At the University of Wisconsin, faculty are not allowed to schedule exams or mandatory homework. Wisconsin state law mandates that any student with a conflict between an academic requirement and religious observance be given an alternative way to meet the academic assignment, a school representative said.
Although holding or postponing class is ultimately the professor’s decision at NU, Associated Student Government Academic Vice President Ebo Dawson-Andoh said faculty has a duty to be aware.
“There are so many students of varying religions here,” said Dawson-Andoh, a Weinberg junior. “Professors should know when to schedule a test so a majority of students don’t have to make it up.”
