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Let me mourn my Lord. Hillsdale College should not hold any classes on Good Friday.
The college currently cancels classes on Good Friday afternoon and all of Easter Monday, labeling Monday a travel day. But allowing students a break only starting at noon on Good Friday is inconsistent with the Christian founding and nature of Hillsdale College.
Good Friday is the day Christians observe Christ’s crucifixion, death, and burial. It is one of the most important days of the liturgical calendar, and the first day of the mourning period until Easter Sunday. Catholics fast on this day to honor Jesus’s sacrifice and mark it as a solemn day. Catholics and many Protestant denominations hold Good Friday services. Many of the faithful wear black funeral attire. If the college gives us an entire day for travel after Easter, it should give us the entirety of Good Friday to observe and remember Christ’s death.
Article 6 of Hillsdale’s constitution says, “Religious culture in particular shall be conserved by the College, and by the selection of instructors and other practicable expedients, it shall be a conspicuous aim to teach by precept and example the essentials of the Christian faith and religion.” It makes sense to allow ample time for worship during the holiest week of the Christian year.
Hillsdale was founded by Freewill Baptists who were “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings resulting from the providence of civil and religious liberty and intelligent piety in the land, and believing that the diffusion of sound learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings, having founded and endowed a college at Hillsdale,” according to the preamble of the college’s constitution. Intelligent piety requires use of the intellect as a form of reverence to God. Not fully observing the darkest day of the Christian calendar by pausing work-related intellectual pursuits fails at this end. Good Friday requires rest and reflection.
Some may argue that keeping morning classes is consistent with Christian tradition, since the Gospels report that Jesus died in the afternoon, and Good Friday church services often occur in the afternoon. But classes distract students from the day’s meaning. No one expects just the morning off from work on Christmas or Easter day because those are both celebrated in the morning — the entire days are given for observance.
Keeping morning classes on Good Friday also disadvantages afternoon classes (and their professors), leaving them a class session behind their morning peers. Canceling class for the entire day solves this problem. Since Hillsdale does not observe federal holidays, such as Labor Day or President’s Day, it should have the space in its schedule to give students a holy holiday.
Don’t make us scramble to our 8 a.m. classes on Good Friday. Allow us to focus on the Lord and rest from our studies in honor of Him.
Ellie Fromm is a junior studying history.
