12 August 2019

TO: Deans, Directors, Faculty, and Instructional Academic Staff

CC: Facilities and Administrative Unit Directors, Teaching Assistants

FROM: Karl Scholz, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Steven K. Smith, Secretary of the Faculty

RE: Religious Observances

We would like to remind you of the faculty policy that mandatory academic requirements should not be scheduled on days when religious observances may cause substantial numbers of students to be absent. Some religions mark observances over multiple days, which may begin at sunset on the day preceding the posted date(s) of the holiday. Major religious holidays during the Fall 2019 semester include the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah (September 30th – October 1st) and Yom Kippur (October 9th). In addition, given our university’s multicultural community, there are bound to be conflicts between mandatory academic requirements and other religious observances. See interfaith-calendar.org for a listing, though not exhaustive, of religious holidays. Please refer to the calendar below for additional information, and note the holidays so that you do not schedule mandatory exercises on any of these dates.

A student’s claim of a religious conflict, which may include travel time, should be accepted at face value. A great variety of valid claims exist for religious groups, and there is no practical, dignified, and legal means to assess the validity of individual claims. State law mandates that any student with a conflict between an academic requirement and any religious observance must be given an alternative for meeting the academic requirement. The law also stipulates that students be given a mechanism by which they can conveniently and confidentially notify an instructor of the conflict.

Please adhere to the following three guidelines that have been developed to provide clarity for both students and instructors: (1) Announce early in the semester that your students must notify you within the first two weeks of class of the specific days or dates on which they request relief. Including this information on your course syllabus is another appropriate method to make sure your students are informed of the policy. (2) Make ups may be scheduled before or after the regularly scheduled requirements. (3) It is understood that instructors may set reasonable limits on the total number of days claimed by any one student. Occasionally, students may not fully understand the necessity for prior notice, and under these circumstances we urge you to be as flexible as possible. Our policy seeks to be sensitive to the needs of individual students.

Please advise your teaching assistants of this policy.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:
Steven K. Smith, Office of the Secretary of the Faculty, 608-265-4562, sof@secfac.wisc.edu
Steven M. Cramer, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, 608-262-5246, steven.cramer@wisc.edu
Christina Olstad, Dean of Students, 608-263-5700, dean@studentlife.wisc.edu

CALENDAR FOR FALL SEMESTER 2019

Key Academic Deadlines:
registrar.wisc.edu/dates/

[The following holidays also fall on class days during the 2020 spring term: Passover, April 8-16; Good Friday, April 10; Ramadan***, begins April 23.]

* In accordance with regent and faculty policy, faculty are asked not to schedule mandatory exercises on days when religious observances may cause substantial numbers of students to be absent from the university.

** Observances of Jewish holidays begin at sunset on the day preceding that which is listed as the holiday.

*** Islamic holidays are based on the lunar cycle and dates may vary by one day from those listed.

**** The official date of degree conferral on the diploma will be 22 December 2019.

Print version, 2021-2026 (PDF)

Print version, 2017-2021 (PDF)

Academic calendar dates 1961-summer 2021 (PDF)

Jane Richard
Office of the Secretary of the Faculty
University of Wisconsin – Madison
129 Bascom Hall
500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI  53706-1380

jane.richard@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-3958