At 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, no classes are scheduled. Gannon intends this for students to attend Mass, because it is a Catholic school after all. Because that time slot is open, meetings for many organizations and departments on campus are at that time.
I have a problem with this because I am a double major in middle level education and theatre.
Nothing is worse than when you have to be at both an education and a theater meeting at the same time because they were assigned at the time of the day when nobody has class.
In a span of two weeks, I had two meetings at that time for two consecutive weeks.
I had a newspaper and a theater meeting at the same time one week and a theater and education meeting at the same time the next week.
Trying to be everywhere at once does not work. Trust me. I tried that the first week.
It did not work at all.
The meetings are always scheduled for 11 a.m. on Tuesdays. They are rarely scheduled on Thursday for some reason.
Even if the meetings could be scheduled on two different days, the meetings could be – and have been – scheduled at the same time because there are only two slots to choose from.
I would like to propose that Gannon has a time each day where classes aren’t scheduled.
This way, organizations and departments can plan meetings that don’t conflict with students’ schedules.
Although 11 a.m. is a time for meetings in departments and organizations, this is also a time for Mass on certain Tuesdays. Students should be able to go to Mass on those days if they want to – or not go if they don’t want to.
I am Jewish and the one time I tried to go to a Gannon Mass, I was incredibly confused, had no clue what was going on and was clearly the one person in the church who was not a Christian.
I’m saying this because I do believe in religious freedom and I think there should be a time for those who do want to go to Mass to go to Mass. People should be allowed to practice their religion whatever it is.
Allowing one hour of no classes each day of the week would let this happen.
People also eat lunch at 11 a.m, and those who have busy schedules should at least have some time to go to Knights or Docs to grab something to eat. Some people – including myself – feel lightheaded if they go long enough without eating.
Additionally, it is easier for people to concentrate with food in their systems.
It would just be so much easier if there was an hour each day where the whole campus did not have class.
I would like to propose that there should be no classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11:05 a.m. A time when there is no class on each weekday would decrease the likelihood of a student trying to be in two places at once.
MIKE FUJITO
