OT: I hope someone can help me with this.

[GoalGrl21]

Okay, I have a serious problem. My being Catholic is seriously kicking my ass right now.

I want to go home for Easter, as my mom wants me home too, but sadly the only day we get off is Good Friday and a three day weekend is not nearly enough time. At most schools back in Saint Louis you get off Thursday through Monday.

That would be enough time for me to spend time with family and celebrate Easter because in my family it's a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE deal.

So I went to Student Affairs because we have a Holiday Policy that we can get off days that are highly celebrated within our religion. One of my friends, Ben, who is Jewish has used this a few times because he lives in Southern Tennessee and wanted to go home to visit family last semester.

Anyway, so I went and talked to Student Affairs about it and they told me that just because I was Catholic didn't give me the right to abuse the Holiday Policy. I told them that I really needed to go home because of family issues and started to get really upset and basically they told me, "Suck it up you're staying here."

So I told my parents to which my dad called to no success.

Does anyone have any ideas about what I could do so that I could get to go home? Katlin suggested that I go and talk to each of my teachers but I'm afraid that they'll be just as evil. And I really don't know what to do.

What frustrates me is that this is a HUGE deal to my family and it seems that for Ben they were all excited to help him out and I left the room in tears.

Thanks to anyone who read all of this, it means a lot.

[PrincessTimberlake]

Just talk to your teachers like Katlin said.

I had a problem similar my first year of college because I needed to miss class for Yom Kippur. It was a hassle but I worked it out with each teacher so it ended up being fine.

So yeah, I say just talk to each of your teachers.

But you get off Good Friday? We don't even get that off here! We just have Easter weekend but its just Saturday and Sunday like every other weekend.

[GoalGrl21]

The only reason we get off for that is last year or sometime before I was here people were pitching a fit because they couldn't go home and they lived IN Tennessee and sometimes it's a hassle to make the trip for just a weekend.

I'm surprised that we get off Good Friday, I thought IF we got anything it would be Easter Monday.

Thank you so much Emily for replying. I'll probably start talking to them next week - this first week of classes is probably stressful on everyone.

[PrincessTimberlake]

No problem, sorry I'm not much help!

I've had to fight a couple times to get my days off though as I needed to be in services for different holidays at the same time class was being taught. Usually, the individual teachers are pretty cool though IF you give them enough time in advance.

If you wait til like the day before, you're chances aren't gonna be as good. LOL. So yeah, I say next week, start to talk to them and see what they have to say.

[GoalGrl21]

What I just don't understand is how rudely they treated me.

I started crying and the person goes, "Oh stop it with the crying business, it doesn't work on me."

I was just like ":eek: WHA?"

But that's what I'll do. Thanks again, and you were, I just was unsure if there was something ELSE I could do. But if talking to each teacher is what I have to do then it's what I have to do.

[SparkleHugs]

im with your school.


isnt 3 days enough? other catholic students wont get the extra day. why cant you leave thursday after classes and come back sunday night?? you still have the whole weekend and can celebrate the holiday no problem.

or if nothing else ditch morning classes monday and come back then.

no one should get special treatment.

[pinky]

This really pisses me off. Seriously.

As a Catholic, I believe that the entire serires of events leading up to Easter are MAJOR items of my faith. Holy Thursday, the night of the Last Supper, begins the time period known as the "Easter Triduum" and, while not quite as defining as Good Friday and Easter Sunday themselves, it still a very important celebration.

The reason I get pissed off about it is that there seems to be a genuine prejudice against Catholicism that is not only tolerated, but in some cases encouraged, and it the same treatment were given to other faiths, there would be such a public outcry!

Em, I know you must also have problems with this issue. In our school district (we're in a pretty diverse community), kids are permitted to take off for major religious holy days without penalty, and teachers have been specifically instructed not to give tests and/or quizzes on those days. Obviously, things change when you get to college, but if students of one faith are permitted to take off because of a religious holiday policy, then a student of another faith should not be accused of attempting to abuse that same policy for wanting an extra day at what is the most important period of his/her faith.

Lauren, if I were you, I'd go back to them and tell them that you will NOT be accepting any bias against your faith. It's bigotry, just as surely as anti-Semitism and racial segregation are. It's wrong. And you're going home for Easter.

[GoalGrl21]

I mean, I do understand where they're coming from. You know? I mean the vast majority of the student body is some division of Baptist and there's hardly anyone here that IS Catholic. I mean, I've met my fair share, but not nearly anything better.

The problem with leaving Thursday, or even Friday is that Friday is basically almost too late to get on a plane fly and have TWO connecting flights (more than likely) and God only knows when I'd get in. And Thursday's the same problem, with the flights and since I don't get out of class until around six, my flight couldn't leave until 8:30PM or later. And flying on Easter would just suck because I couldn't fly in too late because I would need someone to pick me up from the airport.

I know it's a shallow thing to ask for, and I'm willing to admit it, and I know I'm probably not the only one who IS going home (or wants to go home, I guess) for Easter that is Catholic, it's just the fact that I live over five hours away so driving is out of the question - not only because I don't have a car, so that means that someone would have to drive all the way down here and then all the way back.

Three days would be fine, if I wasn't so faraway, I mean... This is THE holiday for my family and I can deal with not going home, I just really want to spend the time.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Pinky, I'll call them today, and ask for the Dean of Student Affairs, maybe he'll understand.

And if nothing else, I guess I could just use one of my absences, but the problem with that is one of my classes on Monday is a Chem Lab and I don't know if I can miss a lab class or not and I won't find out until the 26th of this month. I wonder if that would be too late.

ARGH, this is just... I mean, I feel so alone in this situation because everyone else around here goes, "Why do you need Monday? It's not like Easter's THAT important." You'd figure that some of these people would understand the situation. Oh well.

[pinky]

What I don't get is that Easter is important to the Baptists, too, isn't it?????

[GoalGrl21]

Yeah, but the vibe I'm getting is not nearly as important as it is to my family. I mean, I go to people's homes, we have a huge dinner, we go to mass (one of the few times out of the year that my mom actually goes, :laugh: haha). I mean it's a BIG deal to us.

We normally go Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. In my High School, even though we were off, they held a mass up at the school that students could go to on Easter Monday.

I just, I don't know what it would be like if I wasn't home. I guess this is part of growing up...

[Katlin]

It's not shallow to ask for Lauren.

I know it's the whole principle of the thing and that you want the actual Student Affairs to see your point, but I honestly think if you went to your professor's and told them, they'd understand.

Just because there's a few stupid people in the Student Affairs office doesn't mean other perfectly sane people won't understand. So I'd try that if arguing with them gets you no where.

Also, is there more than one chemistry lab? I know that here for anatomy lab, there are like 6 different labs. As long as we tell our professor ahead of time, we can go to a different lab on a different day of the week and still get credit for it. Just a thought.

Good luck!

[Katlin]

*whiiiines*

Lauren. Why didn't you come back and post that I saved the day with my amazing brilliance? :tongue:

[princessKAT]

Originally posted by GoalGrl21
And if nothing else, I guess I could just use one of my absences, but the problem with that is one of my classes on Monday is a Chem Lab and I don't know if I can miss a lab class or not and I won't find out until the 26th of this month. I wonder if that would be too late.

I don't know about at your school, but here if you miss a lab and you let the ta/prof know in advance, there's always a makeup date for that lab or you can go to another lab at a different time slot and do your lab with them

[GoalGrl21]

:roll: :roll: :roll: Katlin, you DID save the day!!

I called my professor and told him my problem and he's letting me take the lab on that Tuesday afterwards so I think I should be okay.

[AlmostFamous]

I didn't see this thread until this afternoon.

But I think Katlin's advice was right on target and I'm glad that things seem to be working out.

:)