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I was just catching up with a friend about the plunging temperatures in the towns that we live in, and they brought up that they actually have classes today, on Martin Luther King day, which is a national holiday.

Shouldn't colleges observe national holidays and give faculty, students and staff the day off?

(If location matters, we're in the Northeast region.)

Academics don't normally get "days off". Holidays are just work days by another name. Note that in the US, there are almost no National Universities (the service universities like West Point being the major exception). Most universities are actually independent of any government control though almost all have some government (usually State) oversight.

Many universities also recognize a number of religious holidays and these vary depending on the location. In New York, for example, many don't hold classes on Jewish holidays. This sometimes makes it difficult to put together a schedule meeting all constraints.

So, it varies and there is not general rule. Some holidays are more likely to be taken than others, also. But still, it can vary. It can even vary at the same institution from year to year.

The observance of holidays in the United States is a complicated issue.

Holidays declared by the federal government are generally (but not universally) observed by state governments, which oversee public universities here. Private institutions, on the other hand, have no obligation to observe those holidays, and can choose to close or remain open according to their own decisions about what best serves their students’ needs. For example, my undergraduate institution did not take any days off from the first day of classes in the fall semester, but did provide a week’s break corresponding to Thanksgiving. It’s an unusual arrangement but perfectly legal.

It should also be mentioned that while universities have core “business hours” where faculty are expected to be present, in reality, faculty largely choose their own working hours.

The key point is that Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday, and only the federal government is bound to observe those. State governments and private corporations are free to choose their own holiday schedules.

It's common in the US for some more recent Federal holidays to not be observed by a lot of the private sector or even state government. MLK, Veteran's Day, Columbus Day are the ones.

My institution has a very tight, set schedule that relies on classes beginning and ending on certain days—many years our first day of class is actually Labor Day.

Beyond the logistical concerns, our community also had a conversation specifically about the best way to observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This was before my time here, but the consensus between both faculty and concerned students was that it would be better to hold classes and have events on campus focused on MLK's legacy, rather than treating it like a vacation day. My children's schools have made a similar choice. This is also the practice for Veteran's Day and, to a lesser extent, a few other holidays.

Personally, I can appreciate the philosophy that it's better to actively celebrate these civic holidays* as an academic community, rather than celebrating mainly by sleeping in or going shopping—even if sometimes it feels like we're the only people in the state who have to work on a given day.

*_{Labor Day is in a rather different category, since it was initially conceived specifically as a day of rest for laborers.}