Veterans Day doesn’t mean a day off in college

Jennifer Knight

Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2002 | 9:42 a.m.

For many people, the Veterans Day holiday Monday was used for reflection or family time, but for UNLV student Alicia Sosa, it meant one full day of serious study time before her next exams roll around.

"I have to study for this big exam that's on Thursday," Sosa, a senior sociology major, said. "I kind of lucked out that it was Veterans Day."

Most buildings at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas were closed for Veterans Day, but the Lied Library on campus was a hub of activity as students took advantage of the holiday to study or catch up on work.

A number of students lined the computer banks doing research. Doctoral candidates were putting finishing touches on their dissertations, which must be defended by Thursday and turned in by Nov. 25. Others used the holiday to get a jump on final exams, which are five weeks away.

"(Today) is a plus," said Joni Tabb, a hotel administration graduate student. "We are not that far behind, but we are using this time to get organized."

"I'm a grad student. There's no such thing as a day off," Suzanne Bergfalk said.

One group that met to work on a project said Veterans Day provided the only available time to get together.

"It gave us more time to work on this," said Jeanette Bendele, a senior communications major. "We all had different schedules, so it was a matter of getting us all together."

Overall student attendance at Lied Library was up on Monday compared with the rest of the semester, said Sarah Johnson, a student who works at the circulation desk.

"Surprisingly for a holiday, this is really busy," Johnson said. "Within the first 10 minutes of opening I served 15 to 20 people."

Cheryl Radeloff, a doctoral candidate in sociology, said the extra day could have been used by school officials as an educational tool, rather than just a catch-up day.

"It's ironic, here we are on Veterans Day and we're about to go to war with Iraq," Radeloff said. "Maybe we should have talked about the implications of a war or used the time to reflect."