Friday, Feb. 26 — the day of the snurricane.
As usual, I’m up by 7 a.m. I look out the window of my second-floor house on the West Side and can’t find the staircase leading down to the sidewalk because my lawn is buried under a foot of snow. I call it a fair assumption that school would be closed.
9 a.m. — I have class at 10:50 a.m. on Fridays. Just for kicks, I figure I’ll check the Internet to make sure school is closed. To my great surprise, it says that buses start running at 9 a.m. and no classes, except for those at 8:30 a.m., are canceled. I look out my window again. Still no stairs.
9:30 a.m. — I call OCCT to ask if buses actually started running at 9 a.m. I’m given a definite ‘no.’ I think, “There is no way Lois DeFleur could keep school open if even the buses refuse to run. Money is one thing, but lives of students are another.” I remain calm and expect an e-mail to be sent shortly, saying class is off.
11:30 a.m. — The SA announces that there will be no bus service. I am surprised that there is no second announcement that classes are off due to lack of transportation.
At this point I was furious, having missed classes, and frustrated by the administration’s disregard for student and faculty safety. I took a deep breath, telling myself it wasn’t that big of a deal. I couldn’t change the situation anyway, so why not enjoy it instead. I went out and took pictures, shoveled my sidewalk and made snow angels. Then I took the time to get some much-needed work done.
Deep breaths aside, however, I am very frustrated with the arrogance of the administration. They denied that the buses would refuse to run, then assumed students could find alternate ways of getting to campus. They forced students onto the roads, put them in danger and put more cars on the road, while putting pedestrians in danger. The triviality of one day of class does not measure up to the risks we had to take.
Those with the power to cancel classes left it up to the professors to cancel class or deal with those who couldn’t make it to class. This is extremely variable, depending on the personality of the professor; his proximity to the school, thus his ability to get to class; and the scheduled activity of the day. So, of course, many students were put in compromising positions.
If a student has a test and there is no way he or she can get to school with reasonable safety, what choice should he or she make? If a student has a presentation, what result would the administration’s irresponsibility have on the student’s grade?
These things should have been something to consider before sending us out into the snow. It would be nice if the administration took the tab for any accidents that students and faculty ran into on the way to class as well.