the Informer

Last Wednesday, Feb. 10, University doors were closed in anticipation of a large snowstorm that was supposed to drop nearly a foot of snow on Hartford. Like all other schools in the area, the University of Hartford took this precautionary measure to ensure the safety of its students, faculty and staff in the storm.

Unfortunately, the snow didn’t start falling until later in the afternoon with an accumulation of only an inch or two in our area, and in retrospect we could have almost definitely had an entire day of classes, but I’m certainly not complaining about the day off.

However, on Tue, Feb. 16, University officials were faced with the same decision to cancel classes in light of a storm, or continue business as usual. Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky enough to have another day off, but it wasn’t without consequence. Commuter students complained of slick roadways and residential students were forced to trudge through slush and snowy sidewalks. Let me make myself clear: allowing the university to stay open all day during the storm Tuesday was a terrible decision.

Earlier on in the day, I was confident evening classes would be cancelled. The conditions of the road and walkways on campus began to worsen as the day went on. It felt and looked as if the sidewalks throughout campus had been brushed off once and not looked at again until Wednesday. Other schools in the area had already begun canceling their evening classes by the time I left my 3:30 p.m. class. I kept my eyes planted firmly at my shoes so I could attempt to avoid slipping or burying my feet in snow and was able to make it back to my apartment safely, but others weren’t so lucky.

Ice, hidden under blankets of snow, loomed underneath each step students took. Several students took spills on the sidewalks because they had not been cleared and several more even fell down the steps to buildings because no care had been taken to make sure these venues for foot-travel were safe.

I know that there are some sore egos from last week’s snow day mishap, but that is no excuse to keep classes running on a normal schedule when our safety is at risk. I found myself unable to attend my night class because the sidewalks were so treacherous that I didn’t want to get caught trying to navigate home at 10 p.m. in the dark.

Snow removal during the storm was riding on the edge of negligent, in residential and academic areas alike. Sidewalks were literally covered in several inches of snow and ice, roadways on and off campus were slick and driving conditions were dangerous. Worse yet, the steps leading into Dana Hall and up to Auerbach and even GSU were so hazardous that students risked being seriously injured on the way to class.

Everywhere I turned, I could hear the disgruntled voices of students who were forced to attend class in dangerous weather conditions or else face penalization due to absence. Doesn’t anyone else think this is a little ludicrous? Forcing students to attend class in such inclement weather with a penalty should we choose not to fight Mother Nature?

Commuter students even told horror stories about their travels in the heavy snow and expressed concern for the ride home.

The decision to cancel a full day of classes has to be made early enough to inform students and staff of the actions they should take in poor weather conditions. I understand that perhaps at 5 a.m., officials were not prepared to make a final decision regarding the entire day because snow had just started falling and conditions may not have seemed so poor.

After several hours battling with glacial sidewalks and morning rush catastrophes, the call should have been made.
I did notice, however, that the university took a few preventative steps on Monday to help alleviate the impending snow. Didn’t anyone else wonder why the Konover parking lot smelled like Chinese food all day? I’m not sure if spreading a soy sauce-like liquid all over one sidewalk and parking lot 16 hours before snow comes constitutes preparing for a storm – even if the soy sauce is particularly salty. Sorry guys, I know you tried, but next time instead of trying to stop the snow from piling up beforehand, why not plow during? It seems to work well when I clean off my car… I don’t scrape my windshield if there’s no ice on it, so why put down salt long before snow starts? It usually works better at melting ice when there’s actually ice.

As the sun began to set Tuesday night, I wondered about the students and professors who would still be attending their evening courses. I hoped the water on the roads would not freeze during the few hours they were in class and that everybody would make it home safely, but I knew it was going to be tough.