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Students fight for campus recognition of veterans
(The Dominion Post in Morgantown (WV)(KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 4--WVU added Veterans Day to its online calendar last month at the urging of student veterans, who felt it was disrespectful that the holiday was not included.
A WVU spokeswoman said the university does not typically mark the holiday with a day off, but student veterans said WVU has been working to improve resources and recognition for veterans on campus.
WVU junior Chad Wilson, 22, said he checked the calendar last month to see if students had Labor Day off, and he was "appalled" to see that Veterans Day was not listed as a holiday.
"They had every other holiday on the calendar," Wilson said. "I just couldn't believe it. It was disrespectful for them to not even put it on the calendar."
Wilson, of Parkersburg, spent seven months on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in Iraq. He returned in April and resumed his studies at WVU this fall, after a year and half break.
After learning that Veterans Day was not included on the calendar, Wilson contacted Carl Kautz, president of the student group Veterans of WVU, by e-mail to share his concern. Kautz said he forwarded the message to Terry Miller, an adviser for Veterans of WVU, who worked with the university's veterans committee to alter the calendar.
The veterans committee is comprised of students, faculty, staff and community members who meet monthly to discuss the needs of veterans at WVU.
"It was upsetting to see that it wasn't listed," Kautz said. "I was glad Chad brought it to my attention so we could do something about it."
WVU spokeswoman Janey Cink said Veterans Day was added to the online calendar during the second or third week in August, but students will not have the day off.
Officials in academic affairs work with admissions and records to draft the calendar for each academic year based on guidelines established by WVU's Board of Governors and state code, Cink said.
"Typically, WVU officials try to balance the number of Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday classes missed each semester," Cink said. "Traditionally, days off are clustered around natural calendar breaks in the student schedule -- holidays and winter/semester breaks, rather than the middle of the week."
Classes at WVU were canceled Monday for Labor Day. Students, faculty and staff will also have a day off on Nov. 4, for Election Day and a weeklong break for Thanksgiving in late November, giving students an equal number of days off in each class during the fall semester.
While Wilson said it would be a nice sign of respect for WVU to take Veterans Day off, Kautz said WVU has been actively working to expand the resources available to student veterans. The veterans committee has been a big help, he said, forming a partnership between veterans and the administration at WVU.
"There's been a lot done through this committee to benefit veterans on campus," Kautz said. "Over the last four or five months, we've built a really good relationship with the administration."
Kautz, a senior who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1999 to 2005, said the committee is working with Veterans of WVU and administrators to develop a new University 101 course geared toward helping veterans transition from soldier to student. WVU is also creating a Web site for student veterans that will provide useful information on the GI Bill, military transcripts and other topics of interest.
"It's easier for veterans to find information they need, and it's easier for veterans to feel like they're part of the university," Kautz said of the Web site.
Cink said the site isn't ready yet, but it should be finished soon.
She added that WVU honors military veterans at events on Veterans Day and throughout the year. WVU held a military appreciation breakfast for veterans during Diversity Week last year, she said, and cadets and cadre members in both Army and Air Force ROTC at WVU have held ceremonies at Oglebay Plaza to commemorate Pearl Harbor Day, among other events.
The Mountaineer Marching Band also paid tribute to veterans on Saturday, playing patriotic selections during WVU's home football game against Villanova University, Cink said.
"The fact that WVU does not routinely take this day off should not imply any disrespect to our service men and women, whom we admire, respect and salute throughout the year," Cink said.
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Copyright (c) 2008, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
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