This winter has been one of the most snowy winters yet. With blizzards and frigid temperatures almost every week, it’s hard to remember that Minnesota even has a summer. The huge snow accumulation has people saying “I hope school gets cancelled,” but these wishes are rarely granted at Hamline. Not closing campus on these particularly cold and snowy days is a decision that negatively affects many students.
For one, there are hundreds of commuters attending Hamline. During snow storms, driving is dangerous, and it’s bold to pressure students to come to class during these conditions. A Hamline policy states commuters are allowed to be absent from class due to weather, but few professors keep this in mind when taking attendance; these students fall behind in class work even if they aren’t marked absent. Additionally, simply walking around campus can be difficult when it’s so cold it hurts to breathe or it’s so icy it’s hard to stand. Almost everyone I know has fallen on the ice at some point this year. I have even witnessed several receive nasty cuts from their falls. If multiple students are bleeding on their way to class, is it really necessary to still have it? I can’t even begin to understand how students with disabilities must feel; using crutches or a wheelchair on the bumby and slippery sidewalks must be a nightmare.
Besides the obvious effects of the weather, not cancelling classes also plays a role in our academics. While some professors choose to cancel individual classes on bad days, others choose to maintain a mandatory attendance policy. This makes for a very uneven workload between students; some of my classes are two weeks behind schedule whereas some are moving along swiftly. Professors and staff act like cancelling class will leave a major gap in the curriculum, even though this thing called the Internet exists. From Blackboard, with its assignment tools and discussion boards, to Google Drive, with its shareable documents and easy accessibility, there’s no reason why students and professors can’t continue the class content without seeing each other in person.
Hamline needs to stop being so scared to close campus when almost every other school and even places of work close. It’s time for Hamline to “take the lead,” and realize that as our climate changes, schools should change too.