By Darren Johnson
Campus News
I used to be on a small college administrative committee that would decide if we were going to have a snow day or not, or some compromise, like a delayed opening. And, if so, what time exactly would we open? Worst would be if some facets of the campus were open, but not others. Try encapsulating all of that in 140 characters.
So you may or may not have a snow day today, or maybe are heading in late. Here’s all that went into consideration when the college was deciding what to do:
- How will campus unions be effected? If we simply “close” the college, then staff don’t have to come in and will get paid without using a sick or vacation day. For a public institution, this means taxpayers are footing the bill. Is that fair to them? So usually we’d specify “classes are cancelled,” but “offices remain open.” Then staff who couldn’t make it in could use an accrued sick/personal/vacation day if they stayed home.
- If it’s a SUNY four-year school, they need system-wide permission from the Governor’s Office to close. This almost never happens — the weather is different in Brockport vs. Stony Brook, for example. Individual instructors may cancel their own classes, though, and you can find out about this via Blackboard or some other LMS.
- What are the local K-12 schools doing? If they are largely closing, we can assume a lot of staff (who have kids) can’t make it in and thus campuses services will limited. We can also assume that area roads won’t be plowed with a sense of urgency if schools are not in session, so the roads may be unsafe for students and staff to travel in.
- When exactly is the storm hitting? Some storms wouldn’t hit until 5 a.m. or so. By the time we could make a decision and post it, many commuters may already be on the road. Here’s where we’d get a lot of anger from those who risked their lives coming in to an empty building. If the storm ends up whimpering out, we’d get complaints that we were overly cautious. Sometimes you can’t win.
- What day of the week is it? It’s easier to close on a Friday when there isn’t as much going on, anyway. But Mondays through Thursdays may have classes that only meet once a week. By law, a three-credit class needs to meet about 45 hours per semester. If you cancel one Monday three-hour class, for example, fine, but two Mondays? Then the class will need to be rescheduled at the end of the semester. Would you rather meet now or on Christmas Eve?
- Will the weather get better today? If it looks that way, perhaps have a late start. Often the TV weather forecasters are wrong, though, so we can’t rely on them to help us make the decision.
- Is there a special event scheduled to take place on campus? Final exams? These factors also come into play.
So, yes, you may be angry when your particular school tries to ride out a storm, but realize there may be a reason for that. Decide for yourself if you can make it in safely, and adjust accordingly. Err on the side of caution.
Safe travels.
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