Though students now have to come in at 12:30 p.m. the day after the Mardi Gras holiday, many are still pleased with the additional time to travel home for Thanksgiving.
 
Last year was the first time classes scheduled for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving break were canceled after 12:30 p.m., and students appear to be happy with the new end time for classes.
 
Brooksie Bonvillain, Student Government Senate speaker, said SG received several complaints from students who didn’t have enough time to travel for the holiday.
SG  proposed the resolution to accomodate students’ traveling home.
 
“They were finding it stressful to make travel accommodations and still be good students and go to class,” she said.
  Video: Students’ worst travel experiences
 
Bonvillain said the resolution allows students to be done with classes at 12:30 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but will cause the school day to start at 12:30 p.m. the day after Mardi Gras.
 
“It gives them a little more time to get to their families and a little more time to get back to campus from Mardi Gras,” Bonvillain said. “It’s a compromise.”
 
Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said he hasn’t heard any complaints from students.
 
“I have not heard anything, and when I haven’t heard anything, I assume people are happy,” Cope said.
 
RosaGale Abella, chemical engineering junior, said she would be skipping her classes if a test hadn’t been scheduled for Wednesday.
 
Abella said she plans to go home to Zachary for Thanksgiving break, but she will have to wait until her test is over at 11:30 a.m.
 
She said the teacher of her other class Wednesday made class optional, but she’ll attend because she’ll already be on campus.
 
“We’re not really doing anything,” Abella said. “If I didn’t have a test, I would definitely be skipping.”
 
Meghan Davis, English literature senior and Texas native, said she would have attended all of her classes but they were canceled, so she’s leaving for Texas this morning.
 
Davis said it doesn’t matter to her whether class is canceled or not.
 
“It’s all about booking flights,” Davis said. “You can work around your schedule and your classes.”
 
Courteney Douglas, psychology junior, said she likes that classes are canceled after 12:30 p.m., but wishes all classes for the day were canceled.
 
“Some people have more afternoon classes than others. It’s not really fair that some people have to go and some people don’t,” Douglas said.
 
Douglas said her classes today were all canceled, but she would have skipped them anyway.
 
 
 
____
Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]