Columbus Day is traditionally celebrated on the second Monday of October: this year, that’s Oct. 14. But at Ohio University, the holiday isn’t taken until later, typically the Friday after Thanksgiving so that students have a longer holiday.
Just so you know, the celebration of Columbus as the “discoverer” of “America”, as it used to be taught in school, has been growing in disfavor in recent years, particularly as there were already people in the Americas when Columbus and his crew arrived – so Columbus and crew could only be said to be among the first Europeans to stumble across the Americas, rather than the discoverers. In fact, most historians are fairly certain the Vikings arrived in the Americas before Columbus, and the Norsemen may have been preceded by a small boatload of Irish monks. Some believe that other world explorers, such as the Polynesian peoples, reached South American prior to Columbus’s arrival.
And finally, there’s the matter of how badly it went with indigenous peoples who encountered Columbus and his crew. They suffered near extermination from diseases the explorers brought, and for which they had no immunity, and terrible mistreatment. As a result, many states and municipalities across the country are canceling the recognition of Columbus Day, and choosing instead to recognize it as Indigenous People’s Day. Some of those cities are: Seattle, Minneapolis, Berkeley and Los Angeles, as well as Oberlin, Ohio.
Columbus Day may come and go without you giving much attention to it as you cram for exams and churn out papers in your Ohio University housing, but when Thanksgiving comes around, just be aware you have the Italian explorer, properly known as Cristoforo Colombo, to thank for your day off on Nov. 29.