Albany

Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and the day after Easter will no longer be official campus holidays at the University at Albany as the school works to accommodate an expanding roster of winter and summer programs.

Students and instructors who take those days off, however, won’t be penalized.

The decision, which earlier sparked an online petition in opposition, had been under discussion for months and it puts the campus on the same holiday schedule as state government.

“We understand this represents a big change for some members of our campus community, and please know that it was not undertaken lightly,” Provost James Stellar said in an email sent out Monday.

“Students, faculty members, and staff still have the right — protected by state law — to be excused from class and work to observe religious beliefs without penalty and with accommodations to make up missed assignments or exams,” Stellar stressed.

Opponents of the change argued that keeping the two Jewish holidays as well as the Christian Easter Monday would have been an acknowledgement of diversity on campus and it could introduce otherwise-secular students to religious concepts such as fasting, repentance and rebirth.

Jews traditionally fast during Yom Kippur to repent and seek forgiveness for transgressions of the prior year. It comes at the end of a 10-period that begins withe Rosh Hashanah.

Easter, which revolves around the resurrection of Jesus, is seen a symbol of rebirth.

“Oh well. Yet another step towards secular standardization, yet another taking away of the reminders of calendars that remind us of other, older rhythms,” UAlbany history professor Nadieszda Kizenko wrote on Facebook.

She said faculty members affiliated with religious studies are looking to appeal the decision. “At the very least, we plan to voice our concerns,” she said.

University officials maintain that the growth of January and summer classes, where students can earn additional credits toward an on-time graduation, make it increasingly difficult to hold enough classes and schedule exams within the 15 weeks that state law requires per semester. At the same time, more and more students are taking courses during summer and January break, meaning there is less wiggle room in scheduling.

Additionally, the fact that Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are on different dates of the year make planning difficult. That’s also the case with the Muslim holy days of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, which also fall on different dates each year. There had been previous discussion of making them official days off.

Kizenko, though, believes that campus officials should be able to calculate five years out when the holidays will fall without too much difficulty.

Still, accommodating shifting days off can complicate a lot of things, David Tieman, a retired UAlbany instructor, wrote in a recent email.

“The ‘holiday’ issue is not as simple as adding a couple of holidays and decreasing other vacations,” Tieman wrote. He explained that biology labs, where large groups of students have to be configured each week, pose a particular challenge. Unlike lectures, lab sessions involve using equipment, displays and specimens, which have to be set up and planned for in advance.

Tieman said the debate about which holidays to take off is an old one. He recalled memos in past years saying that “staff want to have holidays corresponding to local school districts so they can be with their children.”

Going forward, the official days off, when class is not in session, will likely be Labor Day; a two-day fall recess on a Monday and Tuesday in October; Thanksgiving recess on that Thursday and Friday; Martin Luther King Day, and spring break, a week off in the middle of March.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU