But some don't mind the burden.

"I study five hours every day, so it's not going to change," said Michael L. Faye '02.

Nevertheless, "it's a break--people shouldn't study," Nguyen advised. "There are a fair number of people who will study all day Monday and that's not healthy."

One compromise, in the long tradition of Harvard multi-tasking, may be to make studying more social. Rebecca A. Berman '99 said she plans to invite her roommates to her house in Newton, Mass. to work all weekend.

"It's a real house and there's less distraction," said Berman, who will also be baby-sitting her sister.

As roommate Rachel A. Farbiarz '99, who is also a Crimson editor, said, "I get less depressed about work when I'm at home--at school it's like, 'I have to check my e-mail."'

At least one student will be working for more principled reasons.

"I'm going to work on my thesis and protest," Shivani Grover '99 said. Grover said her reason for ignoring the holiday hinges on the work Christopher Columbus did to destroy native Caribbean peoples.

"I'm going to do my homework," she said. "I'm not taking the day off."