ELECTION Day is now less than a month away, and the respective candidates’ campaigns have gone into overdrive, registering voters and spending millions on less-than-cordial advertising. The divergent paths offered by Barack Obama and John McCain in these uncertain times seem to validate the point being hammered away by both camps: This election may be the most important one of our lifetimes and, more specifically, for our generation. With such high stakes, it is obvious that most University students want to make their voices heard through the ballot box. For this reason, an online petition has been started asking the University to cancel classes on Nov. 4, a meritorious idea that ought to be pursued.
The petition says cancelling classes would mean that “students will be able to go to the polls in Charlottesville or drive home to cast their votes.” Suspending classes on Election Day would allow students the freedom to vote without worrying about missing class. Take, for instance, this plausible situation: A first year who has the opportunity to vote for the first time in his life registers in Charlottesville. Because his address is a dorm, his voting place is University Hall, a long way from Alderman, McCormick or Hereford. He needs to take the bus to get there but happens to have a very full Tuesday, with three classes starting early in the morning and a two-hour lab that day. Since the polls close at 7 p.m., he has to find a time period of an hour or more where he can take the bus to U-Hall, wait in line, vote, and then get back to Grounds for class. He either does this or misses class to vote. For some, that seems innocuous; nevertheless, one could have a test or an important paper due on Nov. 4 that necessitates not missing class. Moreover, as the petition puts it, by cancelling classes that day, “The administration and faculty of UVA will be sending a message indicating the significance of students’ actively participating in the electoral process.” It would be meaningful if the University demonstrated how they want students to participate in the American political process, the most important right a citizen can exercise. Appropriately, the petition goes on to say that, “We do not wish to undermine the importance of attending classes; however, we are in fact acknowledging through formal means direct permission to refrain from attending class for the sake of voting.”
Naturally, some might view this petition cynically: “Students only want the day off so they can sleep in; a bunch of them don’t even care about voting.” Certainly, some students might not need the day off as many have already mailed in absentee ballots while international students have no say in the election. Yet this attitude misses the point that cancelling classes allocates students the time to vote, that most who take the time to sign the petition probably are doing so because they want to make sure they can perform their civic duty without unsettling their academic schedules. Additionally, having the day off would make it easier for students to aid whichever campaign they prefer, facilitating political involvement for the generation that is supposedly the most politically apathetic.
Unfortunately, there are problems with this arrangement, such as professors already having class plans for Nov. 4 or issues with some staff regarding having that day off. Of course, cancelling classes would make it easier for anyone working, not just studying, at the University to vote with the reduced need for staff that day. Most problematic, according to University spokesperson Carol Wood, is the fact that “the Academic Calendar is set in advance by an administrative committee from the provost’s office” and that cancelling classes Nov. 4 “would not be possible.” Yet if a relatively homogenous private school like Liberty University intends to give its students the day off in order to support one candidate (McCain), it would be commendable for a public one like the University to give its very diverse student body the same opportunity to vote for either candidate.
At last count, there were over 2,500 names on the online petition, a sign that the idea is meeting large approval from the student body. However, as it seems unlikely that the petition will succeed, the University ought to at least consider the idea for future election years, perhaps to jumpstart the idea that what this country really needs is a national holiday on election day so that no one’s vote is impeded. In the meantime, the faculty ought to embrace Student Council’s resolution on excusing students from classes or exams and the Alumni Association and office of the vice president for student affairs should be lauded for agreeing to fund a shuttle that will go straight to U-Hall on Election Day. It only makes sense that students be given time to vote without academic worry in this election considering how its result will greatly affect America’s future, a time where our generation will live out most of our lives, for better or for worse.
Geoff Skelley is a Cavalier Daily Viewpoint Writer.
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