Allanah Nelligan voted in Temple’s recent Fall 2024 scheduling poll in hopes of securing Election Day off and an additional break in the semester.
For Nelligan, it’s important that Temple’s schedule lines up with other schools in the area because she has family studying at Kutztown University.
“I think it’s really important for Election Day, for us to have off so we can go be an active citizen, but then also to help align with other schools around this area,” said Nelligan, a junior secondary education major.
The poll, which was shared on Nov. 28 by Provost Gregory Mandel and can be accessed via TUPortal, comes after a year-long effort from students calling to cancel class on Election Day.
Members of Owls Out for Democracy, a group working to attain Election Day off for all students, started their efforts in Fall 2022 when Jared Goldberg, a 2022 political science alumnus, created a petition to cancel class on Election Day that amassed more than 4,000 signatures from students and faculty.
The university created the Election Day Working Group in January 2022 as a result of the petition. The committee, made up of Goldberg, other student activists and members of administration, developed a plan to release the poll early this fall semester.
Students were asked to select one of three options on the poll. The schedule will remain the same if the first option is selected; students will have one Wellness Day and the full Fall Break. Option two offers students three wellness days in mid-October and Wednesday through Friday on the week of Thanksgiving. The third option provides two wellness days in mid-October, Election Day off and a break Wednesday through Friday on the week of Thanksgiving.
“We aim to balance necessary instruction time, federal and state guidelines, and your input in planning for fall 2024 and beyond,” Mandel wrote in an email to the Temple community.
Nyah Eichelberger, a junior psychology major, voted for the poll’s second option. They feel another break is needed before Thanksgiving because of how late the holiday is in the semester.
“I know time and schedules are difficult, but I mean, I would have liked having a full Thanksgiving and maybe like two days for wellness break,” Eichelberger said.
Eichelberger thinks having Election Day off of classes would also be beneficial, they added.
The Beasley School of Law already gives Election Day off due to Arlo Blaisus’ efforts. Blaisus, a third year law student, and the American Constitution Society, an organization aimed at advancing social justice and civil rights through the legal system, were able to secure the day off for law students in 2022 through an advocacy campaign.
Beasley gives students off on Election Day by extending the academic calendar one day. The school maintains the same Wellness Day and Fall breaks as the rest of Temple, which Blaisus feels could be an effective model for the rest of the university and should be pursued.
Blasius encourages students to vote for option three to secure Election Day off despite his grievance with some of the poll’s options.
“I really don’t want people to feel like ‘Oh, this isn’t perfect so we’ll not go for it’ because, as they say, ‘You don’t want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good,’” Blaisus said. “And I think that’s really where we are in this situation.”
Raihan Chowdhury, a freshman management information systems major, voted for option one on the poll. As an international student, he felt that having Election Day off did not benefit him and the full-week Thanksgiving break worked best.
“If I was a [United States] citizen, I would have opted for [option three] as well,” Chowdhury said.
Chowdhury also feels that Beasely’s schedule of Election Day off would be effective if implemented throughout the entirety of the university, he added.
Working with other on-campus organizations, Blaisus urged the university to release the poll, which was initially planned to launch early in the semester. Owls Out for Democracy worked with Temple Student Government and Temple University Democrats to advocate for no classes on Election Day 2024.
Owls Out for Democracy and TU Democrats are organizing to encourage students to vote for option three. The students posted flyers at the Bell Tower and canvassed passersby to encourage them to vote for Election Day off.
Blasius is hopeful students will select option three and receive Election Day 2024 off. He graduates this spring and wants to secure this day of civic engagement for future generations of students before he leaves Temple.
“Elections for democracy is like breathing for people,” Blaisus said. “The democratic process happens during the election and we live in an age where the health of our country and the health of our democracy is seriously questioned.”
Be the first to comment