OGDEN -- For Weber State University students, staff and faculty, Monday was no holiday.
Rather than observe New Year's Day on Monday, as many businesses did with the holiday falling on a Sunday, WSU opened spring semester, having students forgo a day traditionally set aside to watch football or catch up on some rest in recovering from a week of holiday festivities.
Students in Weber School District also returned to school Monday, while students in Davis, Box Elder and Ogden school districts return today.
"My siblings are in bed right now," said WSU sophomore Kelsey Cate when returning to the university for class on what many recognized as a national holiday.
Other students also expressed frustration over having to be back in class on a day when banking and public transit services were unavailable.
WSU Legislative Vice-President Justin Neville said it "kind of sucks" that students were asked to return to school early, and he implied that attendance showed it.
Neville said he noticed that the flow of students moving through the university's student union building seemed low compared to most Mondays. "It feels more like a Tuesday or Thursday," he said, referring to days when attendance at the university tends to be lower.
He said he hopes what happened this year is an "inconvenient anomaly" that doesn't repeat itself.
The calendar for 2013 shows WSU's spring semester will begin on the first full week in January, officials said.
But students weren't the only ones put out by having their Christmas break shortened.
Department of Communication Associate Professor Colleen Garside said she would have liked to see the spring semester begin Jan. 9. Although, she said, she recognizes that had the university waited to begin class until next week, students would have missed three Mondays this semester because of federal holidays, with President's Day and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday being the other two.
But Garside, chair of the WSU faculty senate, said the lack of public transit Monday likely inconvenienced students.
"I know we're out of sync," WSU spokesman John Kowalewski said. But he explained that the WSU school calendar was prepared months in advance, with the notion that the New Year's Day holiday would be observed by staff on Friday, Dec. 30.
Kowalewski said beginning the spring semester on Monday would "cause some challenges," mainly because many banking institutions closed Monday and UTA buses weren't running.
A number of WSU students rely on bus services to get to and from school, he said.
For this academic year, the university has issued 10,145 student ED UTA bus passes, in addition to 1,475 ED UTA bus passes to faculty and staff, Kowalewski said.
But just being issued a bus pass doesn't necessarily mean a student relies on public transit going to and from school, he said.
"Would they have all been affected today? Probably not," Kowalewski said. There are 25,483 students attending the university, he said.
But not everyone groused about school starting Monday.
"I don't mind it. I'm excited for it to start up," said Dustin Martin, member of the WSU football and men's track team.
Everyone probably would have enjoyed having one more day off, but getting back to school is exciting, said WSU staffer Nancy Collinwood, director of student involvement and leadership.
"I'm so excited to get back and see the students," she added.
WSU junior Joey Puntasecca was philosophical:
"We don't get (Jan. 2) off any other year -- why this year?"
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