Spring Break
Professors, show your school spirit Thursday
Staff Reports
Issue date: 11/3/09 Section: Opinion
While the ECU football team is set to square off against Virginia Tech this Thursday at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, the fate of classes that conflict with the game are set to be decided by the professors themselves.
The Chancellor's Executive Council has suggested in an e-mail sent out by the university provost Marilyn Sheerer to the Pirate Nation that, "University classes and operations to end at 3:00 p.m. on November 5 to significantly reduce the potential impact for our students, faculty, staff, visitors, and the community."
The e-mail goes on to state, "Thank you for being flexible during this exciting event. We look forward to a Pirate victory on November 5 along with significant exposure for the university on national television."
We feel that shutting down classes at 3 p.m. on Thursday is an excellent idea and is the only option to lessen the headache on that the administration and students will feel on game day.
While there will certainly will be a few professors that hold class come Thursday, canceling class allows for students to partake in the events prior to, during and after the game that makes the Pirate Nation one of a kind.
Since the game will be featured on ESPN, Thursday night's showdown is a critical recruiting tool, not only in terms of athletics but academics as well. The university wants to present to the nation who exactly ECU is and what makes the place we all know and love so unique.
Holding classes and preventing students to partake in the festivities only limits them from showing school spirit and supporting the university during a prime time, nationally televised game.
Also, if professors are reluctant to cancel class, how many students do you see showing up anyway?
Parking will also be an issue come Thursday and not holding class frees up the parking spots that would be taken up by students during the course of an average school day. This causes a conflict because tailgaters, ECU alumni and the Pirate Club all utilize these parking spots on game day. If students are parked in these assigned spots, then people will lose out on what they paid valuable money for.
And if getting around Greenville isn't already difficult enough in the 5 - 7 p.m. range on weekdays, picture the traffic headaches caused by students trying to get to and from class along with people traveling from work and also those traveling to the game. By canceling classes, it should lessen what is already expected to be hectic travel on the roadways in Pitt County.
We're not saying to just cancel class for the sake of doing so, we believe Thursday night's game could be a critical statement for the university, win or lose.
It has been recommended as well that professors use online or out-of-class assignments in making up for lost class time and we believe that is definitely a fair compromise.
So ECU professors, come Thursday, do the right thing. If your class starts at 3 p.m. or later, cancel it and let students show the nation just how great of a place ECU is.
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
The Chancellor's Executive Council has suggested in an e-mail sent out by the university provost Marilyn Sheerer to the Pirate Nation that, "University classes and operations to end at 3:00 p.m. on November 5 to significantly reduce the potential impact for our students, faculty, staff, visitors, and the community."
The e-mail goes on to state, "Thank you for being flexible during this exciting event. We look forward to a Pirate victory on November 5 along with significant exposure for the university on national television."
We feel that shutting down classes at 3 p.m. on Thursday is an excellent idea and is the only option to lessen the headache on that the administration and students will feel on game day.
While there will certainly will be a few professors that hold class come Thursday, canceling class allows for students to partake in the events prior to, during and after the game that makes the Pirate Nation one of a kind.
Since the game will be featured on ESPN, Thursday night's showdown is a critical recruiting tool, not only in terms of athletics but academics as well. The university wants to present to the nation who exactly ECU is and what makes the place we all know and love so unique.
Holding classes and preventing students to partake in the festivities only limits them from showing school spirit and supporting the university during a prime time, nationally televised game.
Also, if professors are reluctant to cancel class, how many students do you see showing up anyway?
Parking will also be an issue come Thursday and not holding class frees up the parking spots that would be taken up by students during the course of an average school day. This causes a conflict because tailgaters, ECU alumni and the Pirate Club all utilize these parking spots on game day. If students are parked in these assigned spots, then people will lose out on what they paid valuable money for.
And if getting around Greenville isn't already difficult enough in the 5 - 7 p.m. range on weekdays, picture the traffic headaches caused by students trying to get to and from class along with people traveling from work and also those traveling to the game. By canceling classes, it should lessen what is already expected to be hectic travel on the roadways in Pitt County.
We're not saying to just cancel class for the sake of doing so, we believe Thursday night's game could be a critical statement for the university, win or lose.
It has been recommended as well that professors use online or out-of-class assignments in making up for lost class time and we believe that is definitely a fair compromise.
So ECU professors, come Thursday, do the right thing. If your class starts at 3 p.m. or later, cancel it and let students show the nation just how great of a place ECU is.
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
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