Administration Has Much to Consider When Granting Days Off

Many UB students may feel a bit irritated when trudging through snow and ice on days when other schools are closed for national holidays or snow days.

However, the university should not bear all the weight of the blame. State education law primarily dictates how the academic calendar is created at UB and is a deciding factor in whether to cancel classes due to weather.

Heather Masker, a freshman pharmacy and law major, said she would prefer extra days added at the end of the semester instead of having to attend school in inclement weather.

"We don't close UB enough," she said. "We could always go an extra week into May if we needed to."

According to Beth Delgenio, assistant vice provost for academic affairs, SUNY imposes regulations stating that each semester must have 15 weeks of classes to be recognized as a complete academic semester and each academic year must have 30 weeks of instruction.

"If we had each and every holiday off, we would have to keep adding onto the end of the semester out of fairness to those classes and instructors that are affected," she said. "Requirements must be met, as SUNY mandates that for a student to earn 15 credit hours, he or she must have had 2,250 minutes of instruction to earn 15 credit hours."

Delgenio also said reading days would be affected if UB observed more holidays. "We try to give the students a short break between the last day of classes and exams," she said. "The reading days serve that purpose, which is great for (students)."

Despite SUNY regulations mandating instruction time, many students feel UB should be observing holidays such as President's Day, Passover and Easter.

"We have off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, why don't we have time for Easter or Passover?" said Kathleen Kittleson, a junior pharmacy major. "Out of fairness to students of all faiths, UB should recognize those holidays as well, as there are many people who celebrate such religious holidays."

Andrew Hyzy, a sophomore English major, agreed. "It would be more fair to students of the Catholic faith if we had extra time at Easter to observe one of the most holy days in the Catholic religion," he said. "Other holidays, such as Veteran's Day and President's Day, should be observed as well."

For those who feel that holidays in their faiths are ignored and wish to celebrate them, according to New York education law, students cannot be punished if they are "absent for the purpose of religious observance for any recognized religion."

Hyzy also said he was in favor of SUNY mandating similar calendar years in all SUNY schools with enough breaks in between to recognize and satisfy student needs.

"We're all part of the same education system," Hyzy said. "If nothing else, it would at least simplify things and a few more short breaks would help students not get so burned out from having so much school without a break in the action."

Darryl Kaminska was in favor of this proposition as well. "(SUNY schools) are all separate schools, but we're all part of the same system," he said. "Spring break just isn't enough, and occasional extra day breaks would be great."

Delgenio agreed, and recognized the need for breaks, but said the academic year must fulfill SUNY mandates. "We must follow the mandates as handed down by both the state and SUNY," she said.

The semester's calendar would also be affected if the school were to close for weather-related issues.

Kevin Seitz, vice president of university services, said the process of closing UB due to a snowstorm or other weather emergency is a long one.

"Several people are involved when making the decision to close the school," Seitz said. "This process starts overnight with the grounds crew who analyze the situation and discuss it with the University Police."

According to Seitz, the grounds crew and University Police monitor weather forecasts and local travel bans before making a recommendation to the head of University Facilities about closing the university at around 5:30 a.m.

"From there, the recommendation is passed on to me and then on to both the president and provost of the university," he said.

Seitz said it is necessary to gather all the information and make the necessary alerts as early as possible to make timely reports and save students and faculty unnecessary trips in the event of classes being cancelled.

According to Hyzy, the fact that UB rarely closes due to inclement weather is inconsiderate.

"Rare school closings disregard the fact that many of the students here commute to and from school," he said.