TO:                  Undergraduate Students

FROM:            Jill Dolan, Dean of the College

RE:                  Religious Observances, Spring Term 2023

Throughout the year, students might ask faculty for permission to reschedule academic obligations so that you may observe one or more religious holidays.  We ask faculty to honor such requests and to work with students to plan the most effective ways for you to make up your work. 

Many faculty might also observe one or more holidays.  Faculty have been advised to let students know if they plan to reschedule class meetings to accommodate their observances.  Students and faculty should of course be gracious with one another’s religious needs.

You can find a list of religious holidays on the Office of Religious Life website.

Faculty have been advised that students who observe the Jewish holidays in a traditional way are unable to write or use a computer or complete assignments on Shabbat and holidays.

Additionally, faculty have been advised that observant Muslim students are expected to pray individually five times a day, on a specific schedule, as well as weekly in a group session on Friday afternoons.

Because the Friday prayer session overlaps with 12:30 and 1:30 classes, Muslim undergraduate students should have been rescheduled in classes, precepts, drill sections, and labs that meet at times other than Friday afternoon.  If you’ve had any issues with your schedule because of your religious observances, please contact your residential college dean or assistant dean of studies.

If you need information about religious holidays, please contact the Office of the Dean of Religious Life.  You may also contact the Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel, Dr. Alison Boden, directly at [email protected] or at 609-258-6244.

And, of course, feel free to contact me in the Office of the Dean of the College at [email protected] or 609-258-3040, if you have questions or concerns about your courses and your religious observances.

I hope your semester will be rich and rewarding.

My best,

Dean Jill Dolan    

cc:        Alison Boden, Dean of the Office of Religious Life and the Chapel

W. Rochelle Calhoun, Vice President for Campus Life

Kathleen Deignan, Dean of Undergraduate Students

            Emily Shandley, Registrar

            Claire Fowler, Senior Associate Dean of the College

            Cecily Swanson, Associate Dean of the College

            Residential College Deans and Assistant Deans of Studies