York University has decided to end a 34-year practice of cancelling classes on Jewish holidays in part to reflect the growing diversity at the booming Toronto campus.

It’s believed to have been the only public university in North America to close down campus-wide for the Jewish holidays each fall: Two days of Rosh Hashana and one day for Yom Kippur.

York officials say they were not reacting to an Ontario Human Rights Commission investigation of a complaint by a history professor that the practice is unfair to students of other faiths who do not get the same consideration on religious holidays.

“The answer is no, we didn’t make the change because of the complaint – but the change does in part reflect the reality of the diversity of our students,” said campus spokesperson Alex Bilyk.

“The reality was, when the policy was designed, a lot of students and faculty members celebrated those dates,” Bilyk explained yesterday.

York adopted the practice in 1974 at a student’s request as a way to respect religious freedom for those whose holy days were not enshrined by law as are two Christian holidays.

“But over the past 10 years, the diversity of our campus has grown and we have really learned how to handle accommodations of all kinds,” said Bilyk, noting York allows any student whose religious holiday conflicts with a class or assignment to make alternative arrangements with their professor.

Although York does not track the religion of its students, one recent study that matched the student body’s home postal codes with census information estimates that almost 6 per cent of its 51,000 students are Jewish, almost 5 per cent Muslim, almost 35 per cent Catholic, 22 per cent Protestant, almost 4 per cent Hindu, 2 per cent Buddhist and 2 per cent Sikh.

Len Rudner of the Canadian Jewish Congress said he understands why York has changed its practice.

“The practice comes from a time when the demographics were different, and as the university has become much more diverse over the years, we’re in favour of a policy that meets the needs of all students – as long as it’s well-known by students and easy to use,” said Rudner.

(Source: Toronto Star)