Virginia Tech Cancels Classes on Labor Day

Virginia Tech will not hold class on Labor Day, per an email sent out to the school mailing list from President Tim Sands.

The email was forwarded to us, and the I’ve bolded the part that caught my eye…

Dear Colleagues,

Virginia Tech has long held classes on Labor Day, a national holiday, sometimes creating scheduling problems for university offices and scheduled classes. This year several major events will be held on campus including a nationally televised football game at 8 p.m. Other as yet unannounced major events may also add significantly to campus traffic loads. 

Accordingly and in consultation with the provost and academic leadership, I am cancelling all classes on Labor Day, September 7, and closing all offices for all campuses, except those that must be open for selected operations.   Essential emergency personnel are required to work as determined by department heads. We explored options to make up this lost day in the fall semester calendar, but every option available this year presents additional challenges, especially for laboratory sections.  Hence, we will not make up the lost day in the semester calendar this year.

Concurrently, I am directing the provost to begin a review within appropriate university governance committees to identify alternatives for making up class time, should we elect to not hold classes on future Labor Day holidays.  Frankly, I have found it odd that Virginia Tech holds classes on this important national holiday, unlike many other major universities where it is not a class day.

To the faculty, we look to you to design accommodations for this loss of an instructional day in the fall calendar.  I trust this advance notice provides you ample time.

Sincerely,
Tim Sands
President

It’s not clear what those other major events might be, or whether or not they have anything to do with the football game with Ohio State, but the phrasing of that sentence certainly makes you think that something big is in the works.

Sands later confirmed the email on his Twitter account:

'Tis true. Classes on Labor Day are canceled. We will consider a calendar change for future years, observing this natl. holiday.

— Timothy D Sands (@VTSandsman) July 20, 2015

Meanwhile, the decision was well-received, to say the least.

https://twitter.com/BShifflett9/status/623162326670311424

This is how you know you go to a football school https://t.co/3QnUuQ6k1b

— gameday casey (@caseadilla11) July 20, 2015

https://twitter.com/Linwood_M/status/623159109429391360