Monday marked a national holiday, George Washington’s birthday, unless of course you attend Sacramento State.

It may have been a day of rest and relaxation for bank tellers, postal workers and the DMV, but not for us. Sac State students had to begrudgingly accept the fact that the President’s Day holiday was added on to their extended winter break.

The reason for classes on a national holiday, according to the Sac State Web site, is that Washington’s Birthday was observed on December 31. Sac State also lumped the birthday of Caesar Chavez in with our Spring Break this year, so there is not one three-day weekend for students this semester. Apparently, the belief is that it is better to have a longer winter and spring break rather than numerous extended weekends throughout the semester. For students that do not have classes scheduled on Mondays and Fridays it is no big loss, but for a large portion of the campus it is a hassle and an inconvenience.

This unusual circumstance is unsettling and upsetting. The Los Rios community college system, which encompasses such campuses as Sacramento City College and American River College, enjoyed having both Friday and Monday off. Administrators and clerical workers for Los Rios system were granted the extended weekend as well.

Coming to a campus that is partially funded by taxpayer dollars on a national holiday is a joke. What makes Sac State so special that it does not need to obey the federal government when it comes to national days of rest?

Instead of spending time with friends and family or catching up on some much needed sleep, Sac State students needed to come to class and get lectured by professors who were most likely just as upset about having to come to work. On the bright side, the traffic surrounding the campus was the lightest it has been all year. Maybe that is because all of the people that usually cause gridlock around Sac State at all hours of the day were at home, which is exactly where students and employees of this university should have been on Monday.

Contact the opinion desk at [email protected]