Spring Break
Letter to the editor
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Opinion
Editor's note: The following letter is in response to "Celebrate Abe Monday," which ran in the Feb. 10 issue of the WC.
The Op-Ed "Celebrate Abe Monday" in Monday's issue of the Western Courier was entirely unfair to the students of Western Illinois University (WIU) and too late.
This opinion was too late because this issue had already came up last March in the Student Government Association and finally in front of the WIU Board of Trustees, on which I voted against it as the student member. To be exact, the proposal was to change our February holiday from Lincoln's birthday to President's Day, which is celebrated by most other institutions, including local schools, and always falls on a Monday. This would be more convenient for students, faculty and staff because they would have three day weekends instead of one during the week, and also because they would get the same day off as their children.
A campus wide survey was administered to see whether or not the Board should change the holiday. Less than 10% of the student body replied to the survey, rendering it inaccurate. The proposal failed and only now that it has taken effect it has become an issue. These are the consequences of apathy.
I didn't vote "no" because of the survey, however. I voted that way because we should be proud that the greatest president in the history of the United States came from our state and we should never disrespect his efforts in the name of what is more convenient for us. Surely it would have been more convenient for Lincoln to not have shouldered the weight of our country during the bloodiest war American's have ever witnessed.
Monday's article was also disrespectful by assuming that most students would spend Monday night drinking. Celebrating the holiday out of respect doesn't force students to drink; their irresponsibility causes that. It was further argued that it is not conducive to learning to have a day off mid-week. The only students who won't use that free day to get some studying done are the irresponsible ones. The bottom line is that I'm certainly not about to dump Lincoln's birthday because yet another college student can't handle a little responsibility and finds that observing it is inconvenient.
-Blake Antonides
The Op-Ed "Celebrate Abe Monday" in Monday's issue of the Western Courier was entirely unfair to the students of Western Illinois University (WIU) and too late.
This opinion was too late because this issue had already came up last March in the Student Government Association and finally in front of the WIU Board of Trustees, on which I voted against it as the student member. To be exact, the proposal was to change our February holiday from Lincoln's birthday to President's Day, which is celebrated by most other institutions, including local schools, and always falls on a Monday. This would be more convenient for students, faculty and staff because they would have three day weekends instead of one during the week, and also because they would get the same day off as their children.
A campus wide survey was administered to see whether or not the Board should change the holiday. Less than 10% of the student body replied to the survey, rendering it inaccurate. The proposal failed and only now that it has taken effect it has become an issue. These are the consequences of apathy.
I didn't vote "no" because of the survey, however. I voted that way because we should be proud that the greatest president in the history of the United States came from our state and we should never disrespect his efforts in the name of what is more convenient for us. Surely it would have been more convenient for Lincoln to not have shouldered the weight of our country during the bloodiest war American's have ever witnessed.
Monday's article was also disrespectful by assuming that most students would spend Monday night drinking. Celebrating the holiday out of respect doesn't force students to drink; their irresponsibility causes that. It was further argued that it is not conducive to learning to have a day off mid-week. The only students who won't use that free day to get some studying done are the irresponsible ones. The bottom line is that I'm certainly not about to dump Lincoln's birthday because yet another college student can't handle a little responsibility and finds that observing it is inconvenient.
-Blake Antonides
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