28 | APRIL 11 • 2024 
J
N

W

hile the main 
scheduling 
conflict between 
Passover, finals and graduation 
ceremonies is happening in 
East Lansing at Michigan State 
University, Jewish students and 
faculty affiliated with other 
colleges and universities in the 
state are also grappling with 
Passover’s late fallout on the 
Gregorian calendar. 
Moving forward, colleges 
and universities across the 
state with a sizeable Jewish 
student and faculty body 
are revamping their policies 
to recognize Jewish holiday 
observances. Even though 
they may still schedule classes 
and exams, faculty and 
administrators are advised 
whenever possible not to 
schedule the first day of the 
semester, major exams or 
graduations on the main 
Jewish holidays. 

OAKLAND UNIVERSITY 
Although Oakland University, 
as a public institution, does 
not observe religious holidays, 
a statement on its Diversity, 
Equity and Inclusiveness 
website listed Passover as a 
work/restrictive holiday. 
 The website stated: “The 
University will continue to 
make every reasonable effort 
to help students avoid negative 
academic consequences when 
their religious obligations 
conflict with academic 
requirements.” 
 Elysa Koppelman-White, 
associate professor of ethics 
at Oakland University, said 
she has not planned any 
finals during Passover for her 
students. It is her first year 
back teaching on campus after 
giving instruction exclusively 
online in the years following 
the pandemic. 
 This year, there are about 70 

students in the five classes she 
instructs. Because she teaches 
philosophical classes, most of 
her finals are in essay form and, 
therefore, take longer to grade. 
Because of the school schedule, 
the finals of one of her classes 
ran until 6:30 p.m. on April 22, 
which is the evening of the first 
seder. 
When she received the finals 
schedule at the beginning of 
the semester, Koppelman-
White, who attends AISH in 
Huntington Woods, informed 
the registrar and asked if she 
could either switch the day of 
her final or find someone who 
is not Jewish to proctor her 
final. She received no response 
and then went to the head of 
her department. 
“I said, this is quite 
problematic, and I asked if I 
could assign a take-home final 
and have it due a different day 
than scheduled.” 

She continued: “I got the 
clearance from my department 
head, but because I am a rule 
follower, I double-checked and 
made sure that the final could 
be given this way. So, my take-
home final will be issued ahead 
of the scheduled final day and 
will be handed in on the day 
the final was scheduled.”
White told her students that 
she is going to end classwork 
a week ahead of time. The 
Monday of finals week will be 
used for reviews and then later 
that week, students can begin 
to write their papers on their 
laptop in class. 

White was told by the 
provost’s office that the way 
she was handling her finals was 
within the guidelines of the 
faculty senate’s bylaws. 
White said that she brought 
to light the logistics of what it 
means to have a Jewish faculty 
member or any other religious 

Students at Wayne, Oakland and U-M grapple with finals during Passover.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Pesach on Campus

OUR COMMUNITY

Wayne 
State