The number of students who filed religious observance requests this semester was up about 8 percent compared to last fall.

A total of 815 requests were filed by Syracuse University students by last week’s deadline, making it the most requests filed since the university went to an online system to mark observances. Last fall, 664 students filed religious observances on MySlice.

In 2011, SU implemented a policy in which students would have to fill out the days they intend to miss class for religious holidays via an electronic form on MySlice. SU introduced the new policy after reinstating classes on three religious holidays in exchange for a longer Thanksgiving break. That year, 637 students filed requests in the fall.

Andria Costello Staniec, SU’s associate provost for academic programs, said in an email that SU doesn’t have comparative numbers for the amount of students who filed requests, which used to be done in writing. She added that the number of students and number of requests fluctuate each year.

Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah were the most requested religious observances for this semester, Costello Staniec said.

Yom Kippur starts the night of Tuesday, Sept. 22 this year and ends the following night, meaning the holiday is observed while class is in session. Rosh Hashanah started the night of Sunday, Sept. 13 and ended the night of Tuesday, Sept. 15, so part of the holiday was observed during classes.

Juice Jam, an annual music festival at SU, fell on the start of Rosh Hashanah this year, something University Union — the organization that runs the event — said it couldn’t avoid. In 2013 and 2014, an SU football game fell on Yom Kippur.

Brian Small, the executive director of Hillel at SU, said in an email that he’s not surprised Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were the two most requested observances this fall.

Small said that while there is no chance for Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter to take place on an academic day, Jewish holidays are floating holidays and run on a lunar calendar with “no regard for the academic calendar or the day of the week.”

“Thus, based on our numbers on campus and the complexity of our calendar, it makes sense that Jewish holidays would be among the two most requested,” he said.

Small added that the physical constraints of fasting on Yom Kippur make students “have” to take time off.

There are about 2,500 undergraduate Jewish students at SU and another 500 graduate students, according to Hillel’s best estimates, Small said.

Small said that while SU’s policy for online registration is a “a sincere effort to ensure that all students, not just Jewish students, can worship and be full participants in their faith’s traditions,” the policy is “no substitute” for the days off SU used to provide.

The university used to have Rosh Hashanah; Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday; and Good Friday, a Christian holiday, off.

“Students that utilize the Religious Observance form feel immense pressure to skip their academic obligations to participate in religious holidays,” Small said. “Academic classes continue on without our students and they frequently miss important content covered in their absence.”

He added that students often feel pressure from peers and professors to attend class and not take the time off and that some students hesitate from filling out the request because “they feel like they are being unfairly asked to reveal personal aspects of their religious life.”

“While I encourage everyone to use the system and recognize it as our best viable option right now, it could still use some work,” Small said.

Published on September 21, 2015 at 11:05 pm

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306