Shaw University Offices Closed During the Break

While some students will be celebrating the end of the fall semester and the beginning of their holiday vacation, other students like sophomore Christopher Williams said he will be working hard withdrawing from Shaw University.

However, according to university officials, it might be difficult accessing some services for Williams and other students as all but very essential university offices will be closed during the holiday.

Shaw President Dr. Clarence Newsome stated in a release that, "From 5:00pm Friday, December 19, 2008 until 8:00 am Monday, January 5, 2009 the university will be closed for external services."

According to some students the announcement worried them.

"What if my new school has questions or needs documents while I'm gone? Who am I suppose to call", said Williams.

Vice President for Fiscal Affairs, Thomas Poitier said Fiscal Affairs will close on December 19 as well and will not reopen until January 5.

"Although I will not be available in the office over the break, students can feel free to email me at tpoitier@shawu.edu. I will be checking periodically to provide students with any information I can."

Although some students said this kind of information should have been communicated to them ahead of time, other students like senior, Jonah Davis said faculty and staff deserve to take a break as well. "Don't get me wrong the administration should be flexible in some situations" said Davis.

"Students have had an enormous amount of time to handle what ever business they needed to handle up until this point. We do work with our students but we are as restless as they are," said Office of Student Affairs Planning and Effectiveness Director Juanda Holley.

However, Poitier suggested that all faculty and staff should at least be available via email in the event that there are emergency concerns that if possible may be handled.

Some students said they want staff and faculty to have what some say is a well deserved break, but many said they still will have needs over the next few weeks.

"As long as all of my documents are ok for me to transfer I'm good to go," said Williams.