Reminder: Policy on Secular and Religious Holidays
Effective January 1, 1991
- No secular or religious holidays are formally recognized
by the University's academic calendar. However, in setting the academic
calendar for each year, the University does try to avoid obvious
conflicts with any holidays that involve most University students,
faculty, and staff, such as July 4, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Christmas
and New Year's.
- Other holidays affecting large numbers of University
community members include Martin Luther King Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom
Kippur, the first two days of Passover, and Good Friday. In
consideration of their significance for many students, no examinations
may be given and no assigned work may be required on these days.
Students who observe these holidays will be given an opportunity to make
up missed work in both laboratories and lecture courses. If an
examination is given on the first class day after one of these holidays,
it must not cover material introduced in class on that holiday.
Faculty should recognize that Jewish holidays begin at sundown on
the evening before the published date of the holiday. Late afternoon
exams should be avoided on these days. Also, no examinations may be held
on Saturday or Sunday in the undergraduate schools unless they are also
available on other days. The same rule applies to seminars and other
regular classes.
- The University recognizes that there are other holidays, both
religious and secular, which are of importance to some individuals and
groups on campus. Such occasions include, but are not limited to,
Memorial Day, Sukkot, the last two days of Passover, Shavuot, Shemini
Atzerat, and Simchat Torah, as well as the Muslim New Year, Ra's al-
sana, and the Islamic holidays Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-adha. Students who
wish to observe such holidays must inform their instructors within the
first two weeks of each semester of their intent to observe the holiday,
even when the exact date of the holiday will not be known until later,
so that alternative arrangements convenient to both students and faculty
can be made at the earliest opportunity. Students who make such
arrangements will not be required to attend classes or take examinations
on the designated days, and faculty must provide reasonable
opportunities for such students to make up missed work and examinations.
For this reason it is desirable that faculty inform students of all
examination dates at the start of each semester.
-- Stanley Chodorow, Provost