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Yale's double bungling of MLK Day
By Josh DrimmerAs a product of public schools, where every ninth day is an obligatory holiday named for a cause/president/war/colonialist, I was surprised when I realized Yale wasn't going to be the same. The shock came on Labor Day, when we, well, labored as usual. The professors had slight grimaces on their faces, which I thought was sort of funny. But I, fresh out of Camp Yale, was too excited about college to complain. Then came Columbus Day, but what did I care that I didn't have the day off to meditate about the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria? When it comes to ridiculous holidays, and Columbus Day certainly qualifies as one, there's only so much whining we can do before realizing that we were only going to catch up on our sleep and play a little whiffleball anyway. This isn't Christmas, or even Presidents' Day we were talking about. I went to class like everyone else. Yale just doesn't give federal holidays off, I was told, so I started to accept it. That is, until Martin Luther King Day rolled around.
Sitting in Spanish class on Mon., Jan. 17, felt different. It wasn't just the signs depicting Martin Luther King, Jr. asking "Why doesn't Yale honor me?" and "Is the post office closed today?" covering the bulletin board or the miserable weather. It was the thought that while, somewhere else in the nation, celebrations of a great man's life were going on, we—a group of mainly rich, mainly white college students—were continuing with business as usual. Believe it or not, I actually felt a little guilty.
Martin Luther King Day may seem like a matter-of-fact holiday by now, but even today it is only an "optional" holiday in Wallingford, Conn. and in South Carolina, where workers can decide to take a holiday honoring the Confederacy instead. Just eight years ago the holiday was not celebrated in Arizona or New Hampshire. Indeed, the struggle to celebrate the holiday is a microcosmic version of the struggle for civil rights that King and others led.
Yale doesn't give federal holidays off, I was told, but I wondered if an exception couldn't be made. And though I had ignored Columbus Day, for Martin Luther King Day I took a walk to the Amistad Memorial, and considered what the nation might have become without such a great man. I would have liked to end this editorial on that note, but then, to paraphrase the Beatles, I read the news last Thursday...oh boy...
And though the news was rather sad, I just had to laugh, because incredible as it may seem, winter break in 2001 is to be cut by a whole week mainly because of Martin Luther King Day, which would have coincided with the first day of classes. Why? In the words of Dean of Administrative Affairs John Meeske, "It's very awkward to start classes on a holiday." Thus, rather than giving in to the holiday and having classes start on Tuesday, we will be returning a week early. Wow.
Awkward though it may have been to start classes on Martin Luther King Day, the Administration's decision only stretches that one day of awkwardness into a full week, punishing rather than celebrating a holiday. Perhaps I should suggest that the Administration reconsider its decision, or at least give us the holiday off, but I really don't think they will. On Mon., Jan. 13, 2001, I just hope that King's face covers the boards once again, and that I'm not alone in taking the day off.
Josh Drimmer is a freshman in Davenport College.
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