Which Greek system would you want to join?

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Well, to be honest, I think when it comes to the High Holy Days, I think the problem tends to be less allowing people to "opt out" of those days (because how can that do anything but hurt them), and more with planning anything on those days to begin with.

I may not be remembering well, and of course there could be observances I'm not aware of, but I'm really not aware of anything in other religions quite like the High Holy Days. As we've said, Christmas, Good Friday and Easter are the closest equivalents in Christianity, but they're not really quite the same. Christians are not forbidden from doing anything not related to religious observances on those days, especially Good Friday. A Christian can work on those days. If someone scheduled a meeting or non-Easter-related event for the evening of Easter, I might think that was odd or inconsiderate, but I would not be forbidden from participating. (Scheduling something for Easter morning or mid-day might be another matter.)

But if rush/recruitment events are scheduled on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, then those who are scheduling those events are either fairly ignorant or they are scheduling those events on days that they have to know excludes a group of students from participating, and does so based on their religion.

I think the difference is that I don't see it as "accomodating." I see it as a matter of scheduling events on the High Holy Days sends a very clear, if unintended, message: Jews are not really welcome.

I really think its a case of ignorance more than anything. I've said this before on GC, and it's not anything that I'm proud of, but I grew up in a small town with no Jewish population. I was into my 20s before I met anyone who was Jewish. I can certainly see similar scrnarios for women who grew up in Mississippi. As an active, it never would have occurred to me that scheduling something on these days would be an issue, but I certainly never would have wanted to exclude anyone. I do wonder how many women are impacted by this at Ole Miss. It would be interesting to find out.