You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
When the University of Kansas won the 2008 national title in men’s basketball, classes were called off for a day of revelry. Same thing happened when the Jayhawks won the 1988 championship. But this time, as Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little made clear last week in an e-mail to campus, that Tuesday-morning anthropology lecture was happening whether Kansas won or lost its Monday night game against the University of Kentucky. “I believe that our first mission as a university is to foster academic success and that is accomplished in part by setting high expectations for our students,” she wrote. “A national title would be worthy of celebration, but we are confident those celebrations can take place without disrupting KU's academic mission.” She also encouraged students to celebrate safely, and offered the campus arena as a venue to watch the game.
Kentucky President Eli Capilouto expressed similar sentiments in a message to his campus. A spokeswoman said a big game has never been cause to call off classes -- students were in lecture halls the day after national titles in 1996 and 1998.
Elsewhere, the practice of canceling class time to celebrate athletics has drawn criticism. When the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa canceled classes after winning the football championship this year, the Faculty Senate protested. But perhaps a protest is inevitable. In 1952, the Lawrence Journal-World reports, Kansas students marched on the chancellor's house demanding a day off after the college's first basketball championship. (He said no.) Following in those footsteps, an online petition by Kansas students calls celebratory off days a “university tradition” and had more than 725 signatures Monday afternoon.
One student told the campus newspaper he supported the chancellor's decision, but wasn't sure he'd be attending class Tuesday. "I will make a game-time decision," he said.
