Class changes accomodate celebration of Yom Kippur

By Noah Grand
Daily Bruin Reporter

Classes started Tuesday instead of the usual Thursday this year
in order to accommodate Jewish students and faculty members who may
be observing Yom Kippur today.

“We realized that this could cause significant problems
for a large number of students, so we recommended a shift forward
in the schedule,” said Stephen Yeazell, who was chair of the
academic senate when the change was made in February.

The change was then approved by Chancellor Albert Carnesale.

According to Tom Lifka, vice chancellor of student academic
services, the chancellor discussed the problem with community
leaders, rabbis and faculty to determine what the appropriate
response would be.

“We thought the appropriate compromise was that students
who want to observe Yom Kippur should not miss the first day of
class,” Lifka said.

He added that it would be impossible to cancel classes whenever
they conflicted with a holiday of a major religion and still
maintain the academic calendar. Such a cancellation would also be a
violation of university policy.

“I’m sure there are many members of the Jewish
community who wanted us to cancel classes altogether,” Lifka
said. “We wanted to indicate sensitivity to the holiday but
do something that keeps us within university policy.”

The only classes that have been officially cancelled are classes
in the Jewish Studies department, according to associate registrar
Anita Cotter. Individual professors have the option to cancel their
classes so they can attend religious services.

“There’s a lot of flexibility for how a professor
wishes to teach his course,” Cotter said. “Faculty
members may have to change class meetings for a variety of reasons.
People who wish to observe religious holidays should have that
option, especially with this holiday.”

Students are also able to leave class to attend religious
services, but are recommended to provide notice to their
professors. Professors are supposed to make “all reasonable
accommodations” to meet that request but are not mandated to
honor the request, Cotter said.

This policy also applies to final exams if a student’s
ability to take the exam would be affected by attending a religious
observance, but the student should make a request with the
professor ahead of time.