Editorial | Why are we still here?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. And, for another year, students (at least a few of them) will be trudging through campus to attend Wednesday classes.

Many more students, though, have already departed. Due to the annual exodus of students that begins as early as the Friday before break, many professors cancel Wednesday classes. This in turn leads more students to leave campus early, effectively turning Wednesday into an unofficial school holiday.

But the University insists on keeping up this charade and not officially canceling classes.

It would make perfect sense to do so. Even the University's own student government, the Undergraduate Assembly, runs a shuttle to Philadelphia airport that starts running on Tuesday. If the student government can acknowledge reality, Penn administrators should be able to, too.

With so many Penn students coming from outside the Northeast Corridor these days, not canceling Wednesday classes means that students who stay for class must travel on Wednesday, one of the busiest holidays of the year. Furthermore, it only gives them a four-day weekend - not much for a student heading to California and too little time to warrant many international students going home.

As can be seen on the accompanying chart, many other schools start their Thanksgiving breaks on Wednesday, and a few even give students an entire week off. With Penn expanding next year's winter break by a full week, the University acknowledges how important breaks are for students.

Since so few classes are held anyway, it's high time Wednesday before Thanksgiving became an official University holiday.

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