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You're still here??!!If you’re reading this, it could only mean one of three things—you came to school. That is unless you’re reading this on The Collegian’s Web site. I’d like to personally thank all six of you by the way. If you’re reading this, it also means you found the best parking spot since freshman year when you accidentally came to school on dead days. It means your wait in the Taco Bell line downstairs at the USU was short enough to actually call it “fast food” without having a guilty conscience. It means you didn’t take an early spring break. Every year, there is a wave of students who take off early for spring break. The only difference this year is that they’re doing it a day or two early, while simultaneously sputtering out and blessing the name of Cesar Chávez—without knowing why. I’m in my fifth year, and I can always remember being one of the few and the proud who stuck it out and went to class. Never have I been so tempted to go home on the Tuesday before spring break—and stay there. They make it so easy, giving us a holiday right in the middle of the week and a nine-day break three days later. Some professors are offering extra credit to students who attend on Thursday and Friday. Others are passing back all-important test results to make sure they’re not lecturing to a roomful of empty chairs. It’s really pathetic. Professors shouldn’t feel they have to bribe students to keep them in town. The university should have the opportunity to shift the holiday to Monday, better yet, Friday. If we could observe the Chávez holiday on Friday, everyone would get what he or she wants—an early spring break and a day to pay tribute to Chávez. It’s going to happen the next time March 31 is on a Friday. Why not make it every year? Title V of the California Code of Education says the holiday has to be celebrated on it’s specified day, March 31, CSU spokesperson Clara Potes-Fellow said. No one can change it. Other nonflexible holidays are New Year’s Day (Jan. 1), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January), the Fourth of July (July 4), Labor Day (first Monday in September), Thanksgiving (last Thursday in November) and Christmas (Dec. 25). Unfortunately, the wording of the bill doesn’t allow for the holiday to be moved to a Monday or Friday unless it falls on a Saturday or Sunday. Even if it did, there are two entities that determine when holidays are observed and when spring break will be held. And they are not the same. The CSU decides when statewide holidays will be observed for the entire system. The Fresno State administration decides when spring break will be held. And never the twain shall meet. It seems the only way to change it is to change the law—not likely. I’m not sure those who crusaded to get the day recognized by the state are too concerned about the professors or the spring break at Fresno State. So, if you’re planning on sticking it out next year, succumbing to futile attempts to bribe your attendance with extra-credit points, expect to be even lonelier than you are this year. March 31 and Chávez’s holiday will land on Thursday. — This columnist may be reached at collegian@csufresno.edu |