Many students travel throughout the school year. Given the timing of Easter, weeks after spring break, students had to weigh their options when deciding whether to go home for the holiday.
A spokesperson for the university said that although Pitt does not have off for any religious holidays in the spring, students are allowed to and encouraged to ask for accommodations from their professors.
“Students who may have a test or a project deadline during a religious observance are encouraged to request an accommodation or alternative testing arrangement,” the spokesperson said. “Departments are encouraged not to hold staff meetings during religious holidays and to offer flexible work arrangements for employees who need to attend services. Students may request absence from class because of religious observance.”
For those observing Easter, this dichotomy is quite different, and with finals upcoming, class attendance is more important than ever.
Kaitlyn Siek, an undeclared first-year, is an out-of-state student from New Jersey who decided to go home for the weekend. Although it’s a short flight, Seik said it was expensive to travel both ways, and she doesn’t enjoy traveling on weekends.
“The only reason it’s OK for me to do so is because the flight is about an hour,” Siek said. “Say you live in California, and the flight is six hours — it would take almost an entire day to travel there and back. I have to leave at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday to catch my flight.”
Siek wishes that Pitt would give students off for either the Friday before Easter, or the Monday after, known as Good Friday and Easter Monday, respectively.
“If I had one more day to travel, it would be so much easier,” Siek said.
Siek concluded that the rapid travel is worth seeing her family and her new puppies even for just a couple of days, even though she had to get back for classes on Monday.
Siek made it a point to not miss any class time in the midst of her travels and thinks that a religious exemption does not do as much benefit to students as it seems, especially with finals coming up.
“They say religious exemption, but you are still missing what is being taught,” Siek said. “It’s not about the attendance to me, it’s about what we are learning.”
Catholic Newman Center Service Coordinator and Pittsburgh native Andrew Freedy, an undeclared first-year, discussed how important the holiday is for him and his family.
“This is the biggest holiday for Catholics,” Freedy said. “This is a huge thing in my family … I know this is very similar for all Catholics.”
Though Freedy said having off on Good Friday before Easter could benefit students, he doesn’t think it’s necessary. Undeclared first-year student Spencer Greene will be traveling home for the holiday as well but agrees with Freedy.
For Greene, whose family resides in Oil City, Pennsylvania, the two-hour drive is not a significant hassle. Greene said it’s important to him to go home and see his family for Easter.
“Easter to me is celebrating family as a whole,” Greene said. “I see holidays as coming together as a family, and that is how I celebrate it.”