A recent letter addressed to CMU faculty and staff addressing the possibility of Jewish student abscences during the High Holidays was denied access to the faculty listserv.

“The letter didn’t ask for students to be excused from classes rather asked for accommodations,” said Bob Bankirer the adviser of Hillel/Jewish Student Orginization. “I really wanted it to go though the channels with the blessing of the university, but that was not how they looked at it.”

Bankirer said Maureen Eke in the office of Diversity denied the letter to the listserv because of separation of church and state.

Eke, associate vice president for Institutional Diversity and International Education, was not available for comment.

Bankirer said he was trying to make people aware of the Jewish Holiday Yom Kippur, a time for Jews to atone for their sins against Man and God.

The holiday begins at sundown Sunday and ends sundown Monday.

It requires Jews to deprive themselves of all worldly things for 26 hours and also be in the temple or synagogues all day, he said.

“I wanted to make individuals sensitive to the fact that many many Jewish students won’t be here due to the holiday and in reality shouldn’t be here if they have the opportunity to go home and celebrate it with their families,” Bankirer said.

Betsy Kellman, Anti-Defamation League regional director of Michigan said there’s nothing wrong about what Bankirer hoped to accomplish.

“This is an academic and social issue, not a church and state issue,” she said. “There was no teaching about the High Holidays (in the notice), so I’m pretty surprised they weren’t able to put out a notice for faculty members.”

Kellman said the “mistake” may stem from Central not having a large Jewish community.

“When a school wants to have a ‘Christmas party’ rather than a ‘holiday party’ then there’s a problem,” she said. “But this was just an education notice and they aren’t illegal by any means.”

Wendy Wagenheim, communications director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, agreed with Kellman.

“This was a simple announcement and it’s unfortunate that people are so nervous of crossing a line,” Wagenheim said. “The adviser wasn’t asking for a cancellation of classes, so the notice was certainly permissible.”

Bankirer said, as an adviser of the Hillel/Jewish Student Organization, he was trying to be the advocate of students who were too shy to speak up to their professors.

“I was told this was not something they wouldn’t normally do because of separation of church and state,” he said. “I was just trying to get some assistance.”

Rod Glogower, Rabbinic Resource of Hillel at the University of Michigan, said CMU was insensitive to not inform professors of the possibility of students missing classes.

“I know the policy here is if students can’t take an exam because of a religious observance or holiday, the professors are expected to accommodate that student,” he said.

Port Huron sophomore Roger Smith, and co-president of Hillel/Jewish Student Organization, said he didn’t know Bankirer’s request was denied.

“There’s never been a problem in the past,” Smith said. “This is troubling.”

For the most part, Central has been accepting of Jewish faith, Smith said.

“I’m not chalking this up to anything against us, because we haven’t had anything problems,” he said.

Smith believes the notice was denied out of ignorance, not the church and state clause.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “All it said was that some kids may skip class because of what we believe in.”

West Bloomfield senior Bryan Hamburger, Hillel/Jewish Student Organization co-president, said the line is blurry between what is acceptable and what is not.

“When I heard about it, I didn’t think it was abnormal because it’s confusing,” Hamburger said. “But I didn’t see the big deal in letting professors know what’s going on.”

Hamburger, who has an exam and a quiz on Monday, said he’s been allowed to reschedule both.

“One of my professors asked for a third-party note and that’s kind of unfortunate,” he said.

Smith said having to hand in a note would feel somewhat degrading.

“I know some professors don’t want to get burned from students who are lying about staying at home,” he said. “But students don’t have to turn in notes for Christmas.”