2011 Labor Day Change in Sight

This time next year, students will have a day off from classes.
Last April, the Bloomington Faculty Council approved, by a vote of 37-3, that classes will no longer be held on Labor Day. The approval will go into effect starting fall 2011, while a decision for a break on Labor Day after 2017 has not yet been set.
“It was determined that fall of 2011 was the earliest that it could be implemented,” said Erika Dowell, president of the faculty council. “It takes at least a year for the University to plan ahead.”

Many of IU’s employees have today off, while students and professors must still attend classes.

“It means that the students and faculty have to try to conduct a normal day when maybe half the people working on campus do take the holiday,” Dowell said. “It provides a really uneven balance for students, especially new students.”

The Bloomington Faculty Council is a representative body of elected members from the Bloomington campus. The council votes and decides on the campus academic mission, calendar, campus facilities, budgets and more. Schedule changes, including the new Labor Day policy, are made in coordination with IU Bloomington’s Calendar and Schedule Committee.

Dowell said she hopes by having Labor Day off from classes, students will understand why it’s important.

“I think it’s a disservice to have classes meet on Labor Day,” Dowell said. “It’s not honoring the holiday.”

Freshman Rachel Joseph said by having no classes, many students will forget what Labor Day is really about and only focus on the day off from classes.

“I’m excited because a day off from school is never a bad thing, I just think it’s kind of in vain,” Joseph said. “If they’re giving us a day off, it should be for a reason. Maybe there should be an option for students to honor the holiday in some way.”

By having Labor Day off, Dowell said, it will guarantee students — particularly freshmen — that offices on IU’s campus will have the same schedule that they do.

“I think that by not having classes on Labor Day, it can assure students that when we’re open for business, we’re really open for business,” Dowell said.