Generally, after a night of big-weekend celebration, many students are faced with the decision of whether to skip their 10 a.m. class. However, while some students can look forward to a day off on the Friday of Green Key Weekend, with classes cancelled by their professors, this is often not the case.
Unlike Winter Carnival, during which the majority of Friday classes are cancelled, few professors cancel class outright for Green Key Weekend. Many professors, however, do move their Friday class to Thursday's x-hour.
"I don't have class on Green Key because no one will show," government professor Michael Herron said. "I've accidently given exams on days like this and no one has shown up. The x-hour system is a great way to move class. I would hold class on Friday if there was no x-hour."
For computer science professor Devin Balkcom moving class to the Thursday x-hour was not an option, as he already holds class during each x-hour. Instead, Balkcom sees Green Key Weekend as a way to give his students a much-needed break.
"[Computer Science] 5 does not give students much time off. Usually we meet five times a week. It is a very intense course," Balkcom said. "Basically, they need a break."
While some students were upset that classes were not officially cancelled, most students interviewed said that they understood the need to attend class on Friday. Loren Sands-Ramshaw '10, for example, noted that because each individual class costs about $90, he could see why professors and parents would not be thrilled with the idea. Other students agreed.
"I mean I'm not offended," Duberliz Anaya '07 said. "We pay so much money to get an education. That's why we're here, not to party."
Many students thought that the best solution was to use an x-hour earlier in the week to replace Friday's class.
"If I were a professor I might move it to an x-hour," Adam Gardner '10 said. "It might be more productive for the students to learn if they weren't thinking about Green Key."
Several students said that although they all got the Friday before Winter Carnival off, this was not the case with Green Key weekend.
"I think its because they want us to see the ski team and Winter Carnival is only time the ski team has a home game," Pat Schooley '10 said.
According to Assistant Dean of Faculty Jane Carroll not all classes were cancelled the Friday before Winter Carnival. She believed that the reason some classes were cancelled was because the holiday itself was better publicized and more well-known than Green Key weekend.
Carroll also said that the decision to cancel class is solely the choice of individual faculty members and that the administration has no official position on it.
