By Janet Moreno and David Talley
For first year visiting professor and practicing Roman Catholic, Maria Elena Gutierrez Renteria, going to work Friday means changing a centuries-old tradition.
Students and faculty at Texas Tech University are allotted the Monday after Easter for travel, but classes are still scheduled for Good Friday, an observed holiday by many in the Christian faith.
Texas Tech has its own traditions, however. According to the Office of Official Publications, the university has maintained this Easter schedule for several decades.
“This Friday is the first time I’ll be teaching on Good Friday, for me as a Catholic,” Gutierrez Renteria, Ph.D., said. “It’s my duty, right? According to the official calendar of the university, we have to teach.”
Attendance at the First Baptist Church Lubbock’s Good Friday service may be a bit lighter due to Texas Tech’s class schedule Friday. Photo by David Talley
However, Gutierrez Renteria said she feels her students should have the opportunity to observe Good Friday.
“They have to write me an email telling me that they’re not going to attend my class because it’s a holiday for them and because they want to respect that day,” she said. “I will support them.”
Garrett McKinnon, the managing director of the Texas Tech University Office of Official Publications, said scheduling in breaks for students is not always that simple.
“Putting together the calendar is a lot like a juggling act where we have these parameters we try to meet while still including everything that we like to put in,” he said. “You’re really trying to meet the needs of the campus at large.”
One of those needs, McKinnon said, is giving students ample time to return to Lubbock after attending religious services.
“It seems like every year we lose students in traffic accidents who are travelling to and from the campus,” he said. “There’s a great consideration given to protecting students and allowing them time to travel safely.”
McKinnon said the university is often limited by state requirements of class scheduling, making it hard to add extra days to student breaks.
“Any time we look at cutting out a day or adding a day of no classes or lengthening dead day, we have to look at ways to offset that,” he said. “We can’t just arbitrarily just say, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you this day off,’ because we have standards we have to meet.”
Morgan Trevino, a junior double major in political science and Spanish, said she has had trouble dealing with faculty on taking time off for religious observance.
“I tried to get off last year and the [teaching assistants] in the department made it hard on me,” she said. “They wanted proof that I would be attending a service. It was pretty difficult, and I just ended up going anyway. So, I don’t think I’ll try again this semester.”
For Gutierrez Renteria, teaching students means taking their faith seriously.
“I will support students that want to take the day because it’s a holiday for them,” Gutierrez Renteria said. “I need to trust in them because I respect their beliefs.”
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