State University will no longer cancel classes for Christian, Jewish holidays

foxnews.com ^ | 03/25/2012 | n/a

[massmike]

State University of New York at Stony Brook has decided to no longer cancel classes for major Christian and Jewish holidays in an effort to ensure that some religions are not given special treatment and to "afford equal support and equal respect to students and faculty from all faiths."

Jewish students would be impacted on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover and Holy Week. Christian students would be impacted on Good Friday. The Christmas holiday is protected under a union contract and occurs when classes are traditionally not in session.

"As a secular university, as a state-funded university our priority must be to maximize instructional opportunities for our students," said Charles Robbins, vice provost for undergraduate education

Robbins told FOX News Radio the university's decision to stop canceling classes for Christian and Jewish holidays offers "equal protection under the regulations to everybody and no one is getting quote, unquote, special treatment."

However, Stonybrook University’s 24,100 undergraduate and graduate students are not as religiously diverse as the vice provost said. According to a report in The Jewish Week, 26 percent consider themselves Roman Catholic, 24 percent consider themselves other Christian, eight percent are Muslim, five percent are Jewish, and five percent are Hindu

[silverleaf]

there ya go...why no classes on Sundays?
Isn’t that bit too .. Christian?

[Secret Agent Man]

Balkanization and secularization of America in progress. Destroying any ties to our past history and our true foundations.

[Dilbert San Diego]

The big deal is that liberal administrators decided to make a political statement with this action.

[Dilbert San Diego]

The students need to have their Saturday night sleepover and drinking parties, so no way can they have Sunday classes.

[Dilbert San Diego]

The students need to have their Saturday night sleepover and drinking parties, so no way can they have Sunday classes.

[NMCicero]

Lol, thanks for making me chuckle :)

[kalee]

Do they provide moslem footbaths?

[LetMarch]

I’ve heard it said:

“What was once called a Holy Day, soon became a holiday, then it became the week end.”

Just what is the founding history of this University? Most, like Harvard, Yale, ect. where founded by Christians for the message of Jesus Christ.

[Alberta's Child]

I have no problem with it, either ... but it does go to show you one of the inherent problems with state-run schools. Once this country became a completely secularized "melting pot," all religious identity effectively got tossed out the window in our public institutions. Eventually, all public institutions are going to face the same dilemma as religious elements of our culture get stripped away. Why should the U.S. Post Office close on Sunday but not Saturday ... or even Tuesday? Why should Christmas or Yom Kippur be a holiday, but not the entire month of Ramadan? Etc., etc.

Without government-run institutions, these questions wouldn't be relevant at all. Christians would observe Christian holidays, Jews observe Jewish holidays, Muslims could take off the entire month of Ramandan if they wanted to, etc.

[StonyBurk]

John Eidsmoe in his work The christian Legal Advisor Mott Media ,1984 cites Paul Blanshard in Three Cheers for Our Secular State The Humanist March /April,1976 p.17 That our
education system is the greatest thing moving us toward a secular society.( I notice homosexuals share the philosophy of the humanist in that they think the world would be like they are if only we were as enlightened.Not all humanists are homosexual but all homosexuals seem to be humanist) At any rate this story seems proof that the American Education system in its hostility toward its foundation is increasingly hostile toward the founding religion of htis once Great and Good Nation.

[ml/nj]

College is big school....like work....you don’t get off for religious holidays.

What are you talking about?

I've never worked on Rosh Hashanna. During the 15 years or so I was on salary, I always got paid for the day just as if I had worked. (Since 1983, I have effectively been self-employed so I could say that I have continued to pay myself but it's sort of meaningless.)

ML/NJ