COLUMN: Classes canceled? Conditions for closure
The second semester of an academic year sparks excitement for students as summer break is approaching. But with this excitement must come patience as the student body suffer the cold winter months.
It is safe to say Vermillion has bipolar weather, ranging from what seems like tornado winds to bitter, biting cold. Many have complained about having to commute in this weather, so I must ask: What exactly does it take to have the University of South Dakota cancel classes for a day?
As a student without a car at school, I am forced to walk everywhere with the 30 below windchill pounding against my face. Even with my winter coat, snow boots and thick gloves, I still feel the bitter cold and dream of my nice warm bed. Waking up I would constantly check my email to see if my professors, or even the university as a whole, would show a little mercy and cancel class, but, alas, I still had to walk in the freezing cold, reprimanding myself for not choosing a college on a beach somewhere.
All sarcasm aside, the question still poses: What sort of weather does it take for the university to cancel classes?
According to the winter weather policy located on the USD website, “Classes will be canceled when road and weather conditions warrant.” Nowhere does it state what that includes, so I am lead to believe that means we must have another ice age before this campus shuts down.
Schools like the University of Nebraska and Kansas State have all had numerous snow days, and we have yet to have one. The day I remember with anger is one day in January when the weather was below zero and the windchill was in the negative double digits, which forced me to bring out my long underwear and face mask just so I could get to class across campus. While I fought the cold, my fellow classmates from high school in Sioux Falls had a nice snow day, because apparently walking from their cars to the building (where they would stay for the whole day) was dangerous and grounds for cancellation.
The university should be a little less vague on what weather conditions “warrant” a snow day and be a little more lenient and merciful to the students who actually have to face them. This would make the students happy (and warm) and more likely to attend class more often.
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