Editor’s Note: The University will remain open Wednesday, Nov. 25, for regular business hours. Classes will end Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 12:30 p.m. The University will close Thursday, Nov. 26, and Friday, Nov. 27. It will reopen Monday, Nov. 30. Classes resume Monday, Nov. 30.The Thanksgiving holiday will begin earlier this year.The University will close at 12:30 p.m. today for the holiday. Last year, the University was open the entire day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.”[The new closing time] came from the students,” said Robert Doolos, University registrar. “It was part of a package of recommendations that went through Student Government, Student Senate and Faculty Senate.”Doolos said the recommendations made changes to the Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras and spring break holidays. Doolos said in order to meet the minimum requirement of class days this year, the resolution passed required the University calendar to have a half-day this Wednesday and a half-day on Ash Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras, with classes starting at 12:30 p.m. and later.”That was the only way we could make this work,” Doolos said. Doolos said the decision to move spring break to the week after Easter Sunday was more of a faculty initiative than a student initiative. He said having spring break the week of Good Friday caused hardships for faculty with respect to daycare, since the East Baton Rouge Parish school system’s spring break started a week after the University’s spring break.Doolos said the University will still close on Good Friday because it is a state holiday.Doolos said this half-day will help students who live outside Louisiana have enough time to travel without skipping class. Patrick Evans, STA Travel marketing communications coordinator, said the day before Thanksgiving is the biggest travel day of the year.”We’re focused on student-use travel,” Evans said. “We see a lot of domestic travel during the Thanksgiving break from our audience because they’re younger and they go home. From a travel perspective, it’s difficult for students during Thanksgiving because they only get the day before and the day of Thanksgiving off [to travel].”Evans said the earlier people can travel to their destinations, the less complications their journey will have. Jon Bjorling, business administration junior, said he is flying home to New Jersey tomorrow afternoon and is glad he won’t be missing any class since the University will be closed.Darienne Nicholas, English sophomore, said she’s more inclined to go to her morning classes because of the half-day, but her professors canceled class anyway.Sam Stevens, English freshman, said she doesn’t get the point of having a half-day this Wednesday or the Wednesday after Mardi Gras. She said the University should “do all or nothing.””A half-day after Mardi Gras is just asking for no one to show up [to class],” Stevens said.—-Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]