Students protest classes on MLK day

The Graduate Student Association Committee distributed flyers urging students to "cut for King." And at the conclusion of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Candlelight Vigil, Black Student League President and College senior Robyn Kent urged participants to skip classes in order to celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Martin Luther King Day is a national holiday, for which all public institutions must close. But to the dismay of many students and faculty members, the University, a private institution, remains open. University policy dictates that although classes are not canceled, instructors must allow students to celebrate this holiday and certain others, including the Jewish holidays Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah and the Christian holiday 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," the University's Policies and Procedures Handbook states. "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." Although most classes will be held, some instructors will cancel their classes today in order to celebrate the holiday. "I was surprised and shocked that [the holiday] would not be celebrated," Assistant Professor of Political Science Kerry Haynie said. "I won't be holding class on Monday. It's a holiday and I plan to attend some of the events." Assistant Professor of Political Science Marissa Martino Golden shares similar sentiments. "I don't understand it," she said. "People fought very hard and very courageously so that the holiday would be created, and it sends a message when the holiday is not observed." This year especially, protesters felt that it would have been a relatively simple calendar change for the University to recognize the holiday. "It seems like such an easy change to start the semester on Tuesday instead of Monday," Haynie added. Former Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson wrote in the May 3, 1994 issue of the Almanac that the Martin Luther King holiday is enriched by programs and activities and in-class discussions on pertinent issues, "not by absenting itself through closing." University President Judith Rodin declined to comment on the University's position on the holiday.

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