Although some students might lament attending classes on Good Friday, Ball State University has held school consistently on Good Friday for at least the past 15 years, Mike McCauley Director of Academic Systems, said.
A possible reason for the consistency is that the academic calendar is made by replicating the calendar from the year before, he said.
In order for the student body to permanently receive a day or holiday off, a procedure involving Student Government Association and university cooperation must occur, he said.
"If requests are made correctly they would pay more attention to them," said McCauley.
The most recent alterations to the academic calendar have been allowing days off for Fall Break and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which were granted through this process.
The calendar is created by mandating students attend class for a specific number of minutes, said McCauley.
The standard Ball State tries to achieve is for three credit hours to equal 2,250 meeting minutes for one semester, he said.
Paul Cooper, youth minister for the Baptist Collegiate Ministries, said it was not necessary for Ball State students to have Good Friday off.
However, Cooper said students should be released from certain classes if they wish to attend religious services on the religious holiday.
If a student desires to attend a service pertaining to the observance of the holiday, McCauley said they should only miss the class that interferes with the service.
He also said that they should talk to the professors or instructors to see if there would be a punishment for missing class.
Mary Ann Rahe, instructor of art, said students are allowed to miss up to three class sessions, which can be used at any time. If a student uses one of the three days to miss class for Good Friday service there would be no penalty and the absence would be treated like any other absence, she said.
Eric Belky, assistant professor of psychology, said if students can show proof that they attended service their absence would be excused.
"I just don't want my students to use it as an excuse to drink beer," Belky said.
If you goGOOD FRIDAY SERVICEBaptist Collegiate MinistriesTIMENoon to 12:40 p.m.VENUEBetween Frog Baby and Bracken Library
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