This Thursday evening Aggieville’s bars are expected to fill, traffic is bound to back up and lines outside of Bill Snyder Family Stadium will begin to form. At the same time, some students may be heading to class.
The university held it’s ground on having Thursday classes despite expected increases in traffic and the inevitability that many students will skip to take part in the K-State versus Nebraska game activities.
“We are an institution of higher learning and it felt very much to me that we need to maintain classes,” said April Mason, provost and senior vice president.
Mason informed students, faculty and staff of the gameday expectations for class schedules earlier this week.
Mason said she understands many students who are involved with the game like cheerleaders, band members and people who work in the local area, will need to be excused from class. However, those not directly involved will be held responsible for their classes.
“I didn’t want them to be penalized, but by the same token if people are choosing to miss class, they’re choosing to miss class,” she said.
The 6:45 p.m. kickoff will be the last between the Big 12 teams. Nebraska announced they were leaving the conference this summer.
After more than 100 years of competing, the game marking the end of an era is expected to bring an extremely high amount of traffic into the Manhattan area, and students may find some difficulty getting to and from classes.
“Extra time and extra caution to everyone needs to be communicated,” Mason said, “We’re going to have a lot of people.”
Danny Unruh, senior in political science and food and science industry and student body president, said he agreed the game would pose difficulties.
“You’ve seen Manhattan on gameday, there are so many more people moving about,” he said. “I think it’s good we didn’t cancel classes but I think you need to be aware.”
Student senate passed a resolution with their stance on holding classes for the game last Thursday. The resolution stated the Student Governing Association supports the decision to hold classes, but urges faculty and staff to understand the game is a big event for students. The resolution passed in the Senate 30-13-10.
Unruh said some saw the second section of the resolution, asking faculty and staff to be understanding of students missing class, as putting athletics above academics.
“That’s just not true,” he said. “We’re commenting on four or six hours out of all the hours this semester.”
Unruh said the purpose of the resolution was to relay the student viewpoint to the university, but said they still back the university on its stance.
“The big point still is that we support the provost’s decision to hold classes,” he said.
Students have mixed thoughts on the ultimate decision.
Joe Falter, sophomore in open option, said he is on the fence about the decision.
“I would definitely be mad if I had class, but that’s because I’ve paid for my tickets, but I’ve also paid for my classes too,” he said
Falter said he does not think teachers were given enough time to be able to cancel classes, but said they should if at all possible.
“I think football is great, but it shouldn’t be put ahead of academics and classes shouldn’t be cancelled,” said Michael Bennett, junior in regional and community planning.
Bennett said he plans on attending the game, but only has class until 4:20 p.m. Thursday. He admitted, however, he would probably be upset if he had a later class during the game.
“Maybe just night classes should be cancelled,” he said.