Dear Dr. Muhl,

It has come to our attention that the first day of scheduled classes at Berklee this year falls on Rosh Hashanah, the most important day in the Jewish calendar. For Jewish students, this is a deeply personal oversight. While we know the Jewish students have the right to miss class on this day if we so choose, that policy puts our Jewish population in the deeply uncomfortable position of having to choose between observing this holiday and attending the first day of school. This affects each class of students differently, particularly the first year students on their first day of college and the seniors on their last first day of their college careers. The first day of classes is not only symbolic, but it is when we, the students, meet our teachers, are introduced to our classmates and ensembles, and are given syllabi. By giving the Jewish students the option of missing this crucial day, the school is making students choose between observing this extremely sacred holiday and showing up for the first day. This puts us in an extremely uncomfortable position.The current policy holds that Jewish students must identify themselves in order for our attendance to not necessitate a deduction from our overall grade in the class, and does not meet the schools mission of inclusion. Not only that, but this singles out and discriminates against Jewish students by forcing us to choose between our greater education and our religion.  All of this sends the message to Jewish students and faculty alike that we are not worth being taken into consideration by Berklee, and that Berklee does not “acknowledge the inherent dignity and value of each person, and work toward establishing a community where all our members are free from discrimination...” as it’s said in our mission of CDEI.

In order to respect the Jewish community, every other college in the Boston area has acknowledged this sacred Jewish holiday and taken Rosh Hashanah into consideration when building their yearly calendar. We ask that, especially in lieu of the rise of Antisemitism that we have seen globally and in Boston as of late, that Berklee shows solidarity with its Jewish population and postpones the first day of school to September 9th. 

Please know that we feel it’s important that our school stands on the right side of this issue. We are writing not to start controversy, but to ameliorate harm. 

Sincerely, the undersigned students of Berklee