Posted: 09/18/09

New UW-Eau Claire calendars will make it tough for some students to see their extended families around Easter time. We feel that is a shame considering that most students rarely get to see their families during the school year in the first place.

With one dissenting opinion, The Spectator editorial board voted Sunday that we think students should continue to have the Monday following Easter off to return to Eau Claire.

Obviously there are a plethora of different religious backgrounds from which students hail, and maybe not everyone needs that time off to celebrate. But those students should have the right to miss some class to see family. However, the majority of students at UW-Eau Claire come from some sort of Christian background and celebrate Easter. If they don’t celebrate Easter specifically, many take that time to get together as a family.

For students who live three, four or even more hours away, driving home after class Friday and having to return Sunday night is pointless – especially when Sunday is the actual holiday.

We don’t feel that the administration’s argument that most students are back by Monday anyway is valid because most students in the past enjoy all of the holiday and travel Monday morning.

The fact that many labs for science courses also fall on Mondays, is also a weak argument. The science department is only a small part of the university and many students do not have science classes. There is no reason students should have to sacrifice family time because a minority of classes may have Monday labs.

Another issue with not having Monday off is if we continue to diminish the importance of that weekend for many, some professors could assign projects or assignment that would be due the day after Easter.

If a student has to drive four hours to get home and then has to spend the majority of the weekend working on assignments only to turn around and drive back to campus, the entire weekend will be ruined for those who hold it dear.