Dr. Gwendolyn Moore
Associate Professor
University at Albany
Dear Dr. Moore:
On February 9, 2005 the Department of Biological Sciences met to discuss the
possibility that the University at Albany may add to the dates when classes
are suspended for religious observances to include additional holidays and
the impact that holidays have on our educational program. As I indicated to
you in my letter of December 10, 2004 the current schedule of University at
Albany holidays have a pronounced negative impact on our course offerings
and specifically our laboratory courses. The focus of our discussion was
whether and how we could deal with that impact.
The unanimous consensus of all attending faculty, and I am also in
agreement, that the University at Albany should follow the pattern set at
many (if not most) state universities (other than SUNY institutions) and
eliminate the policy of canceling classes for any religious holiday.
Students that celebrate those holidays can be held harmless and provided
with time to make up work. Exams would not be scheduled for the days that
the University at Albany indicates as having significance to specific
faiths. The members of our faculty directly responsible for delivering the
laboratory courses were in unanimous agreement with this concept and would
prefer to offer time to make up missed work for some students rather than
cancellation of the class for all students. For example, laboratories for
Biol 110 and 111 require a full week to insure that all 18-22 sections have
the same lab assignment each week (biological materials are fragile and
rapidly deteriorate). When there is a partial break in the week, as is
currently the case for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, we are unable to offer
laboratories for that entire week. So, even though classes start at the end
of August once we factor in Labor Day recess and the aforementioned holidays
we are virtually into October before we can begin our regular schedule of
laboratories. The addition of other holidays to this list further
exacerbates the problem. Comments of individual faculty members include:
[1] Recessing for holidays within the first month of classes sets a bad tone
for the start of a semester [2] Another remarked that providing students
with make-up assignments is very do-able should a student need to be away
from class. [3] A third stated that the holidays seriously impact field
courses that limited time as it is in the fall for field laboratory work.
There are, of course, holidays that occur during the winter break (i.e.
Christmas, New Years, Martin Luther King Holiday) or spring break that would
not be affected by this policy because the University is already in recess
at those times.
I hope that the views of the faculty of the Department of Biological
Sciences will be of use in your deliberations and that a new policy will be
instituted to rectify current difficulties and not add to them with
additional holidays.
Thanks and Best regards,
(signed) Albert Millis
[received via email]