A personal interpretation of how a public university is not as secular as it says.
On the outside I am a privileged white girl who has received, and is still receiving a top education. I have many opportunities and seemingly few obstacles. What makes me different is not an external characteristic, like my skin color. Right now images of police brutality and race related violence cover our domestic media. Prejudices against the African American community, especially in the form of police brutality are smeared across our screens. Politicians pander to the ever growing unrest over immigration policies and an influx in immigrants as well as the rising misdirected fear of Muslims. I will admit that I am fortunate enough to not worry about the prejudice that African Americans, immigrants and Muslims are facing. Their concerns and their unrest is 100% valid. But that does not mean that their struggles are more valid or more important than mine. Because every struggle is valid.
My differentiating characteristic is my religion. I was born into and raised in a Jewish household. I grew up having Shabbat dinner, learned how to speak Hebrew in school, studied Jewish culture, and attended services. I will admit that my religious experience petered out a little when I got to high school, and other activities took over my interests and time. However, my parents still emphasized the morality and ethical lessons of Judaism. They raised me to be proud of my Jewish identity and not be afraid to show it. While I may not be religious, my religion is important to me.
Until I got to college, I was never really concerned with being a minority and having my religion interfering with my education or vice versa. For 1st through 8th grade, I went to a Jewish Day School, so we always had important Jewish holidays off of school. When I went to public high school I was still in a very large Jewish community, and the school board excused our absences on the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. But college was the game changer.
I go to a public university, so the school is secular and respects all religions. However, I noticed a trend among my classes beginning first semester freshman year. Our academic attendance policy states that days absent should not exceed 10% of our class meeting times. Generally, that gives between 2-3 absences per class. Students mostly want to save their absences for if they are sick or need to go out of town. I however, have to strategically plan them around the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. If I choose to be absent on both of these days, then I have to hope I don’t get sick or injured or have any family emergencies that could cost me my last absence, or potentially face penalization. Penalizations can mean points off your final grade that have the ability to drop you a full letter grade.
I know what you’re thinking. There has to be a clause for extenuating circumstances. And you’re semi-right. The university asks teachers to be respectful of “participation in University-sanctioned events”, “military duties”, “mandatory admission interviews for professional or graduate positions that cannot be rescheduled”. Beyond that it is suggested that teachers also be respectful towards “death or major illness in the student’s immediate family”, “illness of dependent family member”, “religious holy day”, and/or “illness that is too severe/contagious for a student to attend class”. I suggest checking the undergraduate bulletin for better descriptions.
So there’s the problem folks, it is only suggested that teachers do not consider my religious holy days as an absence that could potentially penalize me. But to be honest, I have not really had any teachers truly respect my choice to attend services on our holiest days of the years. They have told me that my absence will count to my allotted 2-3 and I’ll have to catch up on what I miss. And if it’s possible, to please still turn in assignments on time. Because I value my education as well as my religion, I have even made the effort to go back to classes after I leave services, even if I have chosen to participate in a religious fast.
I also know your next argument. “Well, it’s a public university so their policy applies to all religions, even Christianity.” To that I would like to make this equation. In terms of importance, Christmas is the equivalent to Rosh Hashana, and Easter is equivalent to Yom Kippur (it’s a rough equation). The university (and most public secular schools) conveniently schedules Winter Break over Christmas, and Easter is always a Sunday and there are no classes on Sunday, so, if you want to go to church, there’s no issue of absences stopping you.
I’ll leave you with a question. How secular is my public university, and how free am I to practice my religion without repercussions?
