The Red and Black, the independent University of Georgia student newspaper, reports student concerns over the scheduling of this year's homecoming game on the Jewish commemoration of Yom Kippur have led students of other religions to point out conflicts with their holidays.
The overlap of homecoming with Yom Kippur prompted a petition signed by more than 2,000 students directed to the UGA president.
The petition stated: “We are simply here to ask how a major public university with a strong Jewish community could make this mistake. We commit ourselves to this University and we would have hoped that you would commit yourselves to us. We pay tuition and pay for football tickets. Yet, by scheduling homecoming on Yom Kippur, you disregard and disrespect the Jewish population on campus.”
Credit: Maureen Downey
Credit: Maureen Downey
Now, a similar petition has been launched by Hindu, Muslim and Sikh students on the Athens campus:
In the letter, students pointed specifically to the fact that the Accounting 2101 exam was scheduled for Oct. 23, which was also the date of Diwali, the holiest day of the Hindu New Year.
Radhika Patel, president of the Indian Cultural Exchange and one of the letter's authors, said the primary goal of the effort is to raise student awareness. "Really the idea came from when I saw the Jewish community write theirs, and it was a really great letter," said Patel, a graduate student studying accounting from Marietta. "It hit home though that Jewish students had to go through it this year, but it is something Muslim, Hindu and Sikh students go through consistently every year."
The efforts of the UGA students drew support today from Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism.
“As a public entity, the university cannot be in a position of supporting, or appearing to support, one religion or spiritual practice over another,” he said, urging UGA to consider declaring Diwali a college holiday.
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