Pagan students at Marshall University don't need to worry any more if one of their holidays falls on the day of a big exam.

For the first time, the university is granting absences to students who will miss class because of pagan holidays.

Dean of Student Affairs Steve Hensley says the university adopted the policy this year when a student asked to be excused from class on a pagan holiday.

Hensley says Marshall decided there was no reason not to grant that privilege to pagan students if it was already being granted to students of other faiths.

Experts on paganism say Marshall may be the only university in the country to specifically single out pagans for the policy, although some other schools have catchall policies that apply to religious holidays in general.

George Fain is a pagan student at Marshall and she says she's grateful the university is recognizing her religious tradition.