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Fostering Religious Inclusion

Fostering Religious Inclusion
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Queens University of Charlotte is a community of students, staff, and faculty from a wide range of religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds. As a campus that seeks to support and affirm the practices and observances of its members, we offer below an overview of religious holidays that may involve either fasting and/or suspension (or restriction) of work. Knowing when our students, colleagues, and employees may be fasting or may be abstaining from work as part of their religious observance allows us to be more intentional in our planning throughout the year.

Please note: while we aimed to include as many major religious holidays as possible when members of our campus community might be fasting or refraining from work, the list of dates provided below should not be assumed to be all-inclusive; students, staff, and faculty may observe other holidays and/or other religious traditions that are not included below.)

We appreciate that faculty and staff may have questions about how best to foster inclusive living, learning, and working environments for students and colleagues given the religious, spiritual, and secular diversity of our campus community. Faculty and staff are invited to reach out—for information or guidance related to specific faith-based observances and ways to support observance or with more general questions about religious inclusion in the classroom or workplace—to Adrian Bird, University Chaplain (birda@queens.edu) or Renee Wells, Chief Diversity Officer (wellsr@queens.edu).

2024-2025 Religious Holidays

Monday, August 12 (sundown) to Tuesday, August 13 (sundown) – Tisha B’Av (Judaism)

Saturday, August 31 to Saturday, September 7 – Paryushan (Jainism)

Sunday, October 6 – Fast of Gedalia (Judaism)

Friday, October 11 (sundown) to Saturday, October 12 (sundown) – Yom Kippur (Judaism)

Friday, January 10 – Tenth of Tevet (Judaism)

Sunday, February 2 – Saraswati Puja (Hinduism)

Wednesday, February 26 – Maha Shivaratri (Hinduism)

Friday, February 28 (evening) to Sunday, March 30 – Ramadan (Islam) (daily fasting from dawn to sunset)

Saturday, March 1 to Wednesday, March 19 – Month of Alá (Bahá’í) (daily fasting from sunrise to sunset)

Thursday, March 13 – Fast of Esther (Judaism)

  • Students and employees can often feel vulnerable or intimidated when interacting with faculty and supervisors about their religious, spiritual or secular identity. Faculty and staff should work to signal openness to help reduce barriers to conversation. Faculty and staff should also be mindful that students and employees might discuss their identity as part of a conversation about their needs, but that might not mean those students and employees want to share their identity or needs more broadly. Thus, faculty and staff should be mindful to protect students and employee privacy.
  • Fasting for religious observance usually runs from sunrise to sunset, which means individuals who are fasting will likely have a higher level of energy and focus earlier in the work/school day.
  • If you have an exam scheduled on a day that students will be fasting, check with them to see if they would like to arrange to take the exam at a different time of the day when they might feel more alert/focused.
  • If you are teaching a class or leading an activity that requires physical exertion (e.g., athletic practice, fitness class, course-related field work), make sure students know they can check in with you about their energy level and ability to participate.
  • If you are planning a student event (e.g., leadership awards ceremony), avoid scheduling it on a date when students might be fasting. (Many student events are catered with snacks and/or meals, and it is most inclusive to host such events on dates when all students will be able to fully participate.)
  • If you have employees whose work requires physical exertion (e.g., unloading packages, trimming hedges), check with them to see if they would like to focus on the more physical tasks at a specific time of the day or to partner with a colleague to distribute tasks in a way that feels sustainable for the employee while they are fasting.
  • If you have staff meetings scheduled on a day when employees will be fasting, consider not bringing in snacks for the team for that meeting.

Monday, August 12 (sundown) to Tuesday, August 13 (sundown) – Tisha B’Av (Judaism)

Monday, August 26 – Krishna Janmashtam (Hinduism)

Sunday, September 15 (evening) to Monday, September 16 (evening) – Mawlid-al-Nabi (Islam)

Wednesday, October 2 (sundown) to Friday, October 4 (sundown) – Rosh Hashanah (Judaism)

Friday, October 11 (sundown) to Saturday, October 12 (sundown) – Yom Kippur (Judaism)

Wednesday, October 16 (sundown) to Wednesday, October 23 (sundown) – Sukkot (Judaism) (work suspended for first two days and work restricted for the remainder of days)

Wednesday, October 23 (sundown) to Friday, October 25 (sundown) – Shemini Atzeret (Judaism)

Thursday, October 24 (sundown) to Friday, October 25 (sundown) – Simchat Torah (Judaism)

Saturday, November 2 – Birth of the Bab (Baháʼí)

Sunday, November 3 – Birth of Baháúllah (Baháʼí)

Friday, November 15 – Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Sahib (Sikh)

Sunday, November 24 – Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib (Sikh)

Wednesday, February 26 – Maha Shivaratri (Hinduism)

Saturday, March 15 – Shri Ramakrishna Jayanti (Hinduism)

Wednesday, March 19 (evening) to Thursday, March 20 (evening) – Naw-Rúz (Baháʼí)

Thursday, March 20 (evening) to Friday, March 21 (evening) – Nowruz (Persian/Iranian New Year)

Saturday, March 29 (evening) to Sunday, March 30 (evening) – Eid al-Fitr (Islam)

Saturday, March 29 – Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Sahib (Sikh)

Sunday, April 6 – Rama Navami (Hinduism)

Saturday, April 12 (sundown) to Sunday, April 20 (sundown) – Passover (Judaism) (work restricted on first two and last two days)

Sunday, April 20 (evening) to Friday, May 2 (evening) – Ridván (Baháʼí) (work restricted on first, ninth, and twelfth days = evening of 4/20 to 4/21, evening of 4/28 to 4/29, and evening of 5/1 to 5/2)

Monday, May 12 – Vesak (Buddhism)

Thursday, May 22 (evening) to Friday, May 23 (evening) – Declaration of the Bab (Baháʼí)

Tuesday, May 27 (evening) to Wednesday, May 28 (evening) – Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh (Baháʼí)

Sunday, June 1 (sundown) to Tuesday, June 3 (sundown) – Shavuot (Judaism)

Friday, June 6 (sundown) to Saturday, June 7 (sundown) – Eid-ul-Adha (Islam)

Wednesday, July 9 – Martyrdom of the Bab (Baháʼí)

Wednesday, July 16 (evening) to Thursday, July 17 (evening) – Ashura (Islam)

  • Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH) maintains a resource page that provides helpful context for understanding suspension/restriction of work in relation to religious observance.
    • A work-restricted religious holy day is “a recognized denominational sacred or holy day that is observed by persons or groups who are required – through a set or system of religious beliefs, laws/doctrines, tenets, canons or theology – to restrict or limit work and/or physical or mental activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something; toil; labor. This definition may include academic endeavors (e.g. examinations, classroom activities and research, or out-of-classroom learning experiences).”
    • Also, “Sunday is widely observed as a Sabbath and day of worship for many faith traditions. In the Jewish faith, Saturday (beginning at sunset on Friday) is a work-restricted Sabbath. Regulations governing observance for worship depend on regional customs.”
  • Religious observance of any faith-based holy day varies across cultures, regions, and individuals. What one person understands as an observant way to suspend or restrict work on a holy day will vary from another person’s understanding, even for the same holy day of the same religious faith. Thus, it is important to allow each student, colleague, or employee to practice observance in the way that aligns with and affirms their faith and to work with them to flex when job- or class-related work will be done that will allow them to both practice their faith and meet their academic and employment expectations.
  • Knowing which holy days involve suspension or restriction of work can enable us to avoid (as much as possible) scheduling exams, projects, job presentations, etc. on days when students and employees may need to abstain from work. It is helpful to get in the habit of reviewing this calendar of work-restricted holy days as you map out the calendar of major curricular, co-curricular, and employment due dates for the semester or academic year.

A Collaborative Approach to Supporting Religious Observance

This webpage is designed to serve as a resource for the campus community to both increase our awareness of when and how our students and colleagues may be observing holy days and to better enable us to establish a culture of planning that is proactively mindful of faith-based observance and works to promote a living, learning, and working environment that operates with religious inclusion in mind.

We also recognize that how any individual member of our campus community chooses to observe their faith is up to them, and we hope to provide pathways to make it easier for each person to share and coordinate any needed adjustments to when work will be done to support their faith-based observance. Consequently, the Office of the Chaplain has set up a process that students can use to streamline the coordination of communication and (re)scheduling of work during periods of religious observance. For information about this process and/or to access the request form, visit the Religious Calendar & Accommodations webpage on the Spiritual Life website.