There is no doubt this spring’s observance of holidays presented a problem for many students on campus. What once was an opportunity to get together with family and friends and celebrate the festivities now was a lonely experience at college in ones own dorm or apartment. Students ask themselves, should they go to services or attend class? Am I a bad person if I don’t carry on my families’ traditions while I am away? Should I attend services with my friends and experience other religions? Since Spring break did not fall during the observance of either Easter or Passover, and the upcoming Jewish holiday of Shavout falls during finals week, students from the University of Maryland are and will be faced with a dilemma: how to observe the holidays.
University of Maryland is a public school, which means it abides by the separation between church and state. However many students on campus think the school takes this too far. While school across NY, give off for major holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Christmas, Yom Kippur, Easter and Passover, Maryland has almost purposely made their spring break end the week before the start of Passover and Easter. While many students are still trying to catch up from a week without class and electricity due to the observance of Passover, they are also struggling with finals falling on yet another religious event. The holiday Shavuot is known to be the day the Jewish people received the Torah. Many observant Jews, will stay up a full 24 hours learning Judaic studies in order to commemorate this event without sleeping and unable to use electricity. On a campus where a third of the population is Jewish, how could the university plan finals on this holiday?
To be fair the university does hold a strict policy, where observing students cannot be penalized or discriminated against for their religious customs. Finals will be moved for Jewish students unable to take the exam on the holiday, and the university is generally very understanding of absences regarding religious holidays. One should also notice that religious holidays are not the only neglected days on campus. When looking at the academic calendar, one will see that UMD students have class on almost all of the national holidays. Federal law states Martin Luther King Day, Presidents day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veteran’s Day as national holidays.
So how do students deal with not being with their family during religious holidays? Luckily we at UMD have a vibrant religious community, with many choices for observances and many different religious services. Students only need to check out this website to see the many choices of observances and services: