Boston University students expressed their discontent about BU’s Thanksgiving break dates, which prevent some students from traveling for the holiday.
The break extends from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, giving students three weekdays and two weekend days to travel without missing class.
BU Spokesperson Colin Riley said the classes on Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving are included to provide “sufficient” amount of instruction time for the fall semester.
“We want everyone to be able to have time with their families,” Riley said. “As long as BU has been around, students have managed to make travel plans and have Thanksgiving with their families, so we don’t think that’s going to change.”
Freshman Pedro Tapia Zamora, who is from Las Vegas, Nevada, said the earliest he could leave Boston after Tuesday’s classes is 3 p.m. He said he would go home for Thanksgiving if he had the full week off because it’s “a lot more realistic.”
“I don’t really see a reason to go back when it’s only four days of break and then I go back two weeks later,” Zamora said. “There’s just a lot of money spent at the end of the day.”
This will be the first year Zamora doesn’t have plans for Thanksgiving and the first big holiday he’s spent away from his family.
Zamora said he can not skip class this coming Monday or Tuesday because he would be missing important lectures leading up to finals the week after Thanksgiving.
Riley said students who skip class should check in with faculty members to either make up the class or obtain the materials needed to stay on track. Oftentimes, faculty members build their schedules “anticipating the time frame and what’s falling in those particular weeks.”
“This is a very late Thanksgiving,” Riley said. “You don’t want to have a quick run to finals and all of a sudden feel you’ve missed out on some important instruction.”
Liana Snow, a freshman from Minnesota, said she isn’t traveling home because the cost of a plane ticket home for the five-day break length “wasn’t worth it” and she is going home for winter break in a few weeks.
Snow said she didn’t choose to skip class because attendance is a large part of her grade. However, her Monday classes were canceled, as well as one of her Tuesday classes, so she does not have as many classes during the week.
“Our break should definitely be longer,” Snow said. “Especially since a lot of people are going home earlier anyways. It’s been a pretty long semester, people deserve a longer break.”
Although she’s not “terribly sad” about staying in Boston, Snow said she is sad to miss the time with her family.
“Even if it’s just a small bit of time, I think it’s valuable to go and see my family,” she said.
Sasa Ramos, a sophomore from San Francisco, California, said they will be staying in Boston. The main barrier preventing them from going home is the cost.
“Usually it’s still pretty difficult for me to go home during winter break because I pay for my own plane tickets,” Ramos said. “So [for] Thanksgiving and spring break, I usually stay in Boston just because it’s the most feasible for me.”
Ramos said staying in Boston for break last year was “pretty isolating,” and they would go home if BU gave Monday and Tuesday off because they could “see my family more often.”
“If I were to have that extended time, I would take the time [for] my family,” Ramos said.
