The familiar routine of attending classes from Monday through Friday is normally disrupted only when holidays fall within the week.
However, this Thursday, due to the football game against Georgia State University, classes are cancelled to accommodate the number of fans who will arrive on campus.
Thursday is generally the busiest day for students, University spokeswoman Cathy Andreen said in an e-mailed statement.
“UA has more students in class and on campus on Thursdays than any other day of the week,” she said. “With several thousand fans and visitors coming to campus for a Thursday game, it is not logistically possible for the campus to continue to operate in a ‘business as usual’ manner. We must operate as if it were a gameday Saturday.”
Andreen said the University made adjustments to its fall break schedule to accommodate for the loss of class time.
“After the game was moved to Thursday, the University made the decision to shift one day of the fall semester break from Thursday, Oct. 28 to Thursday, Nov. 18,” she said. “By taking advantage of and shifting an already planned semester break day, there is no loss of class time. This announcement was made in July to give students, faculty and staff as much time as possible to make adjustments, if needed, to their plans for the semester break.”
In an announcement released July 1 by the Athletics Media Relations office, the University and Georgia State University mutually consented to move the date of their football game from the original date of Saturday, Nov. 20 to Thursday, Nov. 18.
In the release, Athletics Director Mal Moore stated the movement of the game to Thursday reflects scheduling challenges the athletics department encountered.
“We have a number of scheduling challenges this year in football and this was the best way for us to deal with one of those,” Moore said. “We explored all options available to us, with our players’ health and safety in mind. This was our best remedy. We deeply appreciate everyone’s cooperation, particularly Dr. Witt and Georgia State.”
David Hose, a freshman majoring in business finance, said he has attended every home and away game of the Crimson Tide since 2006. Despite its move to a weekday, he said he will attend the game against Georgia State.
“I agree with moving [the date of the game] because it will give us extra time to prepare against Auburn,” he said. “I like the format of the way [the Athletics Department] has handled it.”
He said he foresees students skipping Friday morning classes because the game will dip into the evening and induce people to celebrate into the night.
Matthew Bailey, a junior majoring in political science, said he is thrilled the scheduling of the game.
“I think it’s great because I have Friday classes off,” he said. “I have a four-day weekend.”
He also said he agrees that many students will ditch class Friday.
The rearranging of fall break to accommodate for the game complicated students’ plans for those holidays, but Bailey said he was not personally affected by the scheduling changes.
