Classes to meet Friday
Jancy Nightingale
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: News
Though some professors cancel their Good Friday classes every year, Hillsdale College's administration has no plans to make Good Friday a full day off, rather than a half day, Provost Robert Blackstock said.
Blackstock said he inherited the Good Friday policy when he became provost in 1996 - he didn't design it himself.
"Since man first walked the earth, we've been observing Good Friday," he said.
Observing the holiday aligns with the college's mission statement, which contains a clause about honoring the West's spiritual inheritance from the Judeo-Christian faith, he said.
"It seems, over the years, it allowed faculty and students to attend the afternoon [church] services," he said.
Dean of Men Aaron Petersen said the college upheld the same policy during his time as a student here. Blackstock could only speculate about why the college chose a half day instead of a full day off.
"It is not entirely clear when the custom took root, or why it emerged in this precise form," he said. "[But it] protects class time by not unnecessarily cancelling classes in the morning."
Blackstock said he made the Monday after Easter a full day off just last year, because so many students travel long distances to go home for Easter.
Associate Professor of History Paul Moreno cancels all his Good Friday classes for religious observance and to keep his classes on track.
"Classes get out of sync due to the half day," he said.
Moreno said he teaches two freshman sections of American Heritage, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since he gives both classes essentially the same lecture, it would throw off the class structure if only the morning class met.
Still, Petersen said the policy likely won't change anytime soon.
"For my purposes, noon's sufficient for me," he said.
Blackstock said he inherited the Good Friday policy when he became provost in 1996 - he didn't design it himself.
"Since man first walked the earth, we've been observing Good Friday," he said.
Observing the holiday aligns with the college's mission statement, which contains a clause about honoring the West's spiritual inheritance from the Judeo-Christian faith, he said.
"It seems, over the years, it allowed faculty and students to attend the afternoon [church] services," he said.
Dean of Men Aaron Petersen said the college upheld the same policy during his time as a student here. Blackstock could only speculate about why the college chose a half day instead of a full day off.
"It is not entirely clear when the custom took root, or why it emerged in this precise form," he said. "[But it] protects class time by not unnecessarily cancelling classes in the morning."
Blackstock said he made the Monday after Easter a full day off just last year, because so many students travel long distances to go home for Easter.
Associate Professor of History Paul Moreno cancels all his Good Friday classes for religious observance and to keep his classes on track.
"Classes get out of sync due to the half day," he said.
Moreno said he teaches two freshman sections of American Heritage, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since he gives both classes essentially the same lecture, it would throw off the class structure if only the morning class met.
Still, Petersen said the policy likely won't change anytime soon.
"For my purposes, noon's sufficient for me," he said.
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