UF students and faculty are preparing to travel home for Thanksgiving. But Wednesday could lose its status as part of the holiday.
Bernard Mair, associate provost for undergraduate affairs, said Wednesday’s canceled classes were only part of a trial period set up by the Faculty Senate for 2012-2014. This Spring, the extra day will be up for review to see whether its benefits outweigh its issues.
Mair said the Faculty Senate voted that Wednesday should be part of the already four-day weekend to ease traveling for students. With some 50,000 students enrolled, having the entire Student Body jam into highways and airports on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving would create a travel nightmare.
“The concern now is that students are not showing up for classes earlier,” Mair said.
The issues arose when students took off extra days, skipping classes the Monday or Friday before.
Professors like Linda Perry, a lecturer in UF’s colleges of journalism and agriculture, feel the issue of student attendance shouldn’t mean taking away the extra day.
She said many students live four to six hours away, and having everyone drive home Wednesday night poses a serious risk.
“I have to side with the students on this one. They need that Wednesday,” Perry said.
Mair is urging students to avoid taking off an excess amount of days so their extra day won’t be killed in the Faculty Senate vote.
“I’m relying on students to come to class Monday and Tuesday,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing, but if it’s abused, they will lose this privilege.”
He said because many classes don’t take attendance, different data will be collected to gauge student presence. RTS ridership, transactions and water flow on campus will all be measured to determine how many students left early.
David Easley, a 19-year-old UF family, youth and community science sophomore, is braving the five-hour drive to Miami on Tuesday night. He said his trip last year was delayed two hours with traffic, making him hesitant to start the journey again.
“It is nuts just on Tuesday,” he said. “I really couldn’t imagine only being able to drive on Wednesday instead of spreading out the traffic over two days.”
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 11/25/2013 under the headline "Skipping class may trim Thanksgiving Break"
