For the last two years, Syracuse University has seen an increase in religious observances requests on MySlice, but with this year’s Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah falling later in the week, the university saw a decrease in requests.

When the policy was first implemented in fall 2011, the university received 2,504 religious observance requests from 660 students. The amount of requests increased in 2012, with 745 students submitting 3,505 requests. This fall, only 2,804 religious observance requests were put in from 735 students, said Andria Staniec, associate provost for academic affairs.

This year, Yom Kippur started on Friday night and ended Saturday night, while Rosh Hashanah started on the evening of Sept. 4 and ended on the evening of Sept. 6. Because the Jewish holidays were later in the week, it allowed more students to participate in Hillel events without the interference of classes, said Hillel President Hannah Miller.

Miller said she feels the current policy works well because it gives students the ability to take days off for religious reasons.

“You can’t be penalized for taking the day off for religious reasons,” Miller said.

The center provided prayer services in the morning and afternoon during Yom Kippur, as well as kosher meals for those students who stayed on campus, she said.

“Students naturally had more free time and were able to join in the celebration,” Miller said. “I think it’s different this year because they fell farther in the week or on the weekend.”

Since Yom Kippur fell at the start of the weekend, more students didn’t need to request off, said Brian Small, Hillel interim executive director and director of programming and student engagement.

He said it was difficult to determine whether students actually took off the day they requested.

 He added that there’s no perfect system, but that the MySlice system is the best option for those who want to celebrate religious holidays.

“I think that the system was difficult to adapt because the Jewish and Muslim holidays are on a lunar calendar, and we operate on a solar calendar,” Small said.

Small said he believes some reasons that students didn’t take off days included not going home so soon after returning to college or wanting to make a good impression with their professors.

He said that freshmen in particular were pressured to go to class because they just got to school and want to make a good impression in their classes.

Matthew Hendler, a freshman finance major, who is Jewish, said he still attended classes during the holidays, adding he was uncomfortable with taking even one day off.

Published on September 17, 2013 at 1:47 am

Contact Caroline: cstrange@syr.edu