The running joke around university grounds is that Ashland students love to complain. This is a normal occurrence on any college campus and is sometimes necessary to effect change.

One of the more recent changes concerns the holidays and minute requirements given in the 2011-2012 academic calendar, and students’ tongues are wagging about it.

Last semester, Facebook lit up with complaints about how every other college had Labor Day off and AU didn’t.

While Facebook probably wasn’t checked, the administration decided that AU students should get Labor Day off again.

“I’m glad we get Labor Day off,” sophomore Corinne Doubek said, “I was pissed we didn’t this year.”

Other students don’t think that not getting Labor Day off is a big problem.

“Not having Labor Day off wasn’t a big deal,” junior Katie Simmons said.

Other students agreed.

“My initial take regarding Labor Day is I can see why people were mad [about not getting it off],” junior Cassie Baird said.

“People around here go home on that day, but it doesn’t matter for me because I’m from out of state. But I can’t argue with a day off if that’s what they’re giving us.”

Freshman Hanna Britton is 50/50 on the entire subject.

“I think it will be nice to have Labor Day off next year, but I also find it pointless to have a break that early in the semester, especially if you are a freshman,” Britton said.

“From what I heard, most freshmen decided not to come back after the first few weeks of school.”

One of the other things to change in the academic calendar was something that many other colleges already have: a reading day. A reading day is a free day given to students to study.

“I think I’m going to sleep all day and not do anything,” Simmons said. “I would rather crank [finals] out than prolong it.”

Doubek agrees with Simmons and says that students will take it one step further.

“I think a reading day is pointless,” Doubek said. “People will use it to get drunk.”

Baird thinks that there is a possibility that a reading day will be beneficial and it might not matter what students use it for.

“It sounds like they’re breaking up work and break days,” Baird said. “Even if you don’t use the reading day for studying, it still gives you a break.”

What does Baird plan on doing on her reading day?

“I’m sleeping and watching Netflix,” Baird said. “But I still think you’re mentally preparing yourself for exams.”

The last major change students are whining about is the idea of having exams on Saturday.

“I definitely don’t agree with exams on Saturday,” Doubek said. “No student wants to do schoolwork on a weekend.”

Simmons agrees with Doubek.

“I will be mad if I have an exam on Saturday,” Simmons said.

Again, Baird tries to see the positive.

“Finals week is crazy,” Baird said. “I won’t know what day it is anyway, so I don’t think it will matter.”