Remember Zero Week? The bane of professors and students alike, we begin fall quarter on a Thursday and then get just two days off for Thanksgiving. We should start classes on the Monday of Zero Week and then get the full week off for Thanksgiving.
Instead, we get to battle airport and freeway traffic the Wednesday night of Thanksgiving week as we struggle to get home for the holidays.
UCLA needs to give us a whole week off for Thanksgiving. It would ease the traffic strain and make long journeys home seem less futile. It is rough to travel for six hours only to make the same trip four days later. Airports are packed on the day before Thanksgiving, so we have to schedule flights for late in the day to make time to go to class and then arrive early at the airport. Unlike finals week, when our departures are staggered based on when everyone has their last exam or paper due, Thanksgiving forces every single Bruin into LAX and onto the 405 in the same brief span.
Theoretically, Zero Week provides time for freshmen and transfers to move in and get settled. But they could move in the weekend before without a major upheaval to housing. Having the whole of Thanksgiving week off would make quarter schedules more normal and would give us all a break to work on papers and study for exams.
We would actually be able to relax and enjoy our turkey ““ or tofurkey ““ and not pack our things back up as soon as we’ve put away the leftovers.
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