Many professors have canceled class today so students can watch Obama’s inauguration ceremony. And while it is encouraging to see some professors acknowledge that this is a presidential inauguration unlike any other, many other students will have their eyes fixed on a textbook rather than a TV.

There will be video of the event on the Internet for those who missed the live action, but it’s not the same. This is a momentous day and this spectacle should be shared with friends and family. It’s a story of coming together as a nation (remember, it’s now former President George W. Bush), and being locked in a classroom deprives the day of the emotion it deserves.

While it would be unwise for the university to step in and make a mandatory cancellation of all classes, it should offer an excused absence for classes during the swearing-in portion of the inauguration ceremony. This way, students are given the option of keeping up with course material by going to class or being able to watch the ceremony.

Advocating widespread class cancellation would be suitable if Washington were in our backyard, but it’s not. When Obama came to MSU in October, however, many professors squashed their schedules, allowing students to attend the rally. Still many other professors simply held an optional class for which attendance was not recorded. That is what should happen with today’s inauguration.

It seems as though there has never been this much excitement concerning a presidential inauguration, especially for something that is considered a somewhat mundane milestone. There will be speakers and marching bands and “The Star-Spangled Banner” just like at every other presidential inauguration.

But this one is symbolic. This is history.

Our nation is enduring some of its most significant problems in its short lifespan, yet we are inaugurating our first minority president. For a nation whose minorities believed equality was a dream just a little more than 40 years ago, Obama is a testament to how quickly things can change for better or worse.

So as we deal with this near-Depression economy, wars and crashing planes, we can turn to this event to find validation that dreams can come true and the unlikely can, in one instant, become just the opposite.

People have waited a long time for this. In this nation of immigrants, we all are close to somebody who has fought for equality, who has lived to see this day.

So where will you see this? What will you tell your kids about this day?

Watch and find out, but watch in any way you can.