By Sophie Foster
Opinion Editor
Washington College will say goodbye to reading days in the next academic year, and students are unsurprisingly displeased about the change.
Reading day will be replaced by Labor Day in the fall semester and Martin Luther King Day in the spring semester, according to the Student Government Association’s senate minutes from April 16. During previous years, the College remained open during these holidays.
According to the 2024-2025 academic calendar, Labor Day falls on the Monday of the second week of the semester. Martin Luther King Day is on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, meaning that instead of a break during the semester, winter break will simply last one extra day, and classes will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
This decision is confusing for several reasons, the primary being that there is no given justification to substantiate why granting both days off would be impossible — in fact, many colleges and universities in Maryland already do. According to the institutions’ respective calendars, McDaniel College, the University of Maryland, Salisbury University, and Johns Hopkins University all have both of these holidays off in addition to reading days at the conclusion of the fall and spring semesters.
If, however, the College is determined to grant only one of two potential days off in each full semester, they owe it to the campus community to be aware of collective needs and better assess solutions. Making a unilateral decision without enough concern for the needs of the community to even offer so much as a poll is ignorant of those needs.
“I honestly don’t feel well informed on this at all,” freshman Kaitlyn Mankevich said. “I don’t know why reading day was taken away and I don’t feel like the college explained anything about it. Even as an active member of SGA, I don’t remember ever having faculty tell us about why this is happening, which has happened [with] other important changes.”
For Mankevich, who lives six hours away from campus, reading day is a valuable break to pack, study, gather herself, and make final memories with her friends — and she is not alone in feeling kept out of the loop about this significant scheduling alteration.
“I think sometimes they don’t take into consideration student perspectives when making decisions like this one,” freshman Juliana Santiago Batista said.
Santiago Batista said she does not feel like the College is keeping students fully informed, and that everything she heard on the subject was from Yik Yak, not the administration itself. Freshman L. Siobhan Luckey echoed this sentiment.
“This actually isn’t the only rather important thing that I’ve only found out about through Yik Yak, which is far from ideal,” Luckey said.
According to Luckey, better communication of reasoning from the administration is crucial moving forward.
“It is essential to maintain harmony between administration and the student body, and a lack of openness can and does…lead to a resentful animosity,” Luckey said.
This communication is especially valuable when considering that many students view reading day as an opportunity for adjustment, and now feel blindsided by the unexpected shift.
“Reading day, for me, always felt like my way of breathing before being thrown into finals,” sophomore Stevie Lyles said. “The last few weeks of classes are already a very stressful time for all of us, so taking away our only day of rest is a little rough.”
Freshman Ella Humphreys, meanwhile, uses reading day to put herself in a comfortable position to finish the semester and tie up critical loose ends.
“I…meet with professors, get advice on finishing up the semester and [talk] about my personal hinderances that may be affecting my current state in the class,” Humphreys said. “…We get a lot of coursework all at once toward the end of the semester. Even if one is doing well, it is nice to have a day…to refresh and look at the finals week calendar to get in order what needs to be in and what tests are to be taken.”
According to freshman Jasmine Schaeffer, having a day off before finals week reduces students’ stress by providing a chance to recharge, study, and tend to their mental health, particularly for those like herself who have learning disabilities or feel overwhelmed by the arrival of final examinations.
“Personally, at the end of each semester I’m so busy that taking care of myself becomes difficult, let alone finding time to study and properly prepare for my exams,” Schaeffer said.
This benefit of reading day is not as applicable to Labor Day and Martin Luther King Day, both of which occur so early in the semester that students have little to study for and are not yet feeling overwhelmed by the workload of their academics.
However, institutions nationwide close on those holidays, including public grade schools. Closure of WC for Labor Day and Martin Luther King Day means that faculty members — and some students — with children will not need to source and pay for childcare, which can become a massive expense.
Also important to note is that, because students will be actively living on campus during both of these newly observed holidays, certain employees — such as dining hall staff — will be expected to work, so this upside does not apply to them. This is particularly inappropriate given that Labor Day’s purpose, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, is celebrating “the social and economic achievements of American workers.” It is unclear if the College will attempt to “celebrate” its own workers if this day off is observed for students and faculty.
Ultimately, there are benefits to both options for time off. Consideration for faculty and staff does not need to come at the expense of consideration for students, and vice versa. The real issue is not that the College is prepared to close on holidays that most other institutions are closed for; it is, instead, that student input was not considered on the matter.
It does not seem like it would be catastrophic for the College to maintain reading day in addition to closing the campus for Labor Day and Martin Luther King Day. Professors can adapt class schedules, but there is only so much money for childcare, only so much time for students to complete and professors to grade last minute assignments, and only so much mental bandwidth for academic rigor.
Elm Archive Photo
Photo caption: In previous years, WC has recognized holidays like Martin Luther King Day with on-campus activities, such as 2019’s read-in.