When Phil Murry, sociology senior, pictured how he’d spend Saturday Sept. 20, he saw himself surrounded by his friends, cheering for LSU as it faced Auburn. “About 12 friends and I were taking a school bus out there Friday,” Murry said. “We were going to tailgate all night and all the next day, and then go to the game.”Murry had attended the Auburn/LSU matchups since his freshman year and had no reason to suspect his senior year would be any different. But then Murry got the bad news: instead of standing in the bleachers of Jordan-Hare Stadium, Murry would be sitting in a desk in the Agriculture Administration building. “I think it’s bullshit,” Murry said. “I was supposed to be in Auburn. Instead I’m here, waiting to take a Spanish test.”Murry’s feelings reflected those of many who attended class Saturday for the first of the four make-up days to off-set the classes missed because of Hurrciane Gustav.In a broadcast e-mail sent Sept. 5, Astrid Merget, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, empathized with the problems Saturday classes would cause. “We recognize that there is no perfect solution to making up these days,” Merget wrote in the e-mail. “But we feel that this is the best approach for meeting the mission of LSU as well as the goals of our faculty and students.”But that’s little comfort for Murry, who was “devastated” to miss the game.  “I’m missing out on the atmosphere and the whole experience of college gameday,” Murry said. “I understand education is the most important thing, but why did we have to have a test this day?”Murry’s teacher declined to comment. William Rowe, assistant professor, said he held class “because he was told to.””As an assistant professor, I have to follow the rules,” Rowe said. “I’m sure I’ll get an e-mail from administration saying they didn’t tell me I had to, but they did.”Rowe said Saturday classes were not the best way to make-up the missed days. “They should have given us the opportunity to double a class or hold one in the evening,” Rowe said. “We should have been able to work something out with our class instead of being told, ‘You will hold Saturday classes.'”Michael Hauck, construction management senior, said the Saturday class took away from family obligations.”We didn’t sign up for classes on Saturdays,” Hauck said. “Saturday is my day to take care of my house and spend time with my family.”Student Government passed a resolution at the Sept. 10 Senate meeting to request Oct. 4 and Oct. 18 be the only days to schedule Saturday make-ups.  Merget declined the request, saying “its implementation would be most problematic at this time.”But Merget went on to say the administration would issue a note to all deans, chairs and faculty that “urges them to accomodate students who face serious problems owing to rescheduling.”Jeff Blackmon, associate professor, said he received the e-mail and took the steps necessary to make sure missing his Saturday class would not be extremely harmful to his students’ education. “I’m posting all lecture notes online,” Blackmon said. “And all the information we do in class, we’ll go over in other classes.”Sharon Hebert, biology freshman, said she didn’t mind attending a Saturday class. “They’re necessary,” Hebert said. “I didn’t really have much planned, so it wasn’t so bad.”
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Contact Katie Kennedy at [email protected]