Though university closings due to snow may mean little more than surprise leisure time for students who live on campus, for many students and employees who live far away, they are an essential safety precaution.
Tufts on Tuesday issued first a conditional early release for employees after 3 p.m. and later a canceling of late-afternoon and evening classes. Although the early release may have stopped some students from heading to campus and allowed employees to get a small jump on the evening commute, the release came too late to really serve its purpose of ensuring the safety of students and staff during Tuesday's storm.
Students who cannot afford to live on or very near to campus — or choose not to for other reasons — still had to make the trek to Tufts for their morning and early afternoon classes while Tuesday's storm was in full force. All Tufts employees, most of whom commute to work, had to travel Tuesday morning and make their way home Tuesday afternoon in some of the most dangerous travel conditions Massachusetts will see this winter. The university administrators must have known early in the day that the storm was predicted to occur, yet they required employees to commute to work Tuesday morning regardless. By the time the early release was announced, travel conditions were already highly unsafe. Letting employees leave at 3 p.m. was hardly an assurance of safety, and this risk could have been prevented.
The e-mails that the university sent regarding the early release were also confusing. The subject of the first e-mail regarding early release said, "Early release on Feb. 1 due to weather," but the e-mail went on to say that the release was conditional and only applied to employees. The next e-mail, which said that classes after 3 p.m. would be cancelled, was not sent to students until 3:14 p.m. Students who were off campus Tuesday morning working at jobs and internships may have rushed back for their afternoon classes unaware that they were cancelled. These students may have waited out the storm or driven back more slowly if they had known ahead of time that they did not need to hurry back for school, and those students who do not own cell phones with internet access may have not had a chance to learn about the campus closing until after they had arrived on campus.
If the university does decide to close campus somewhat last-minute, administrators should consider using the campus' safety alert system to notify students of these changes. While a campus closing may not be an emergency, it is unfair that students who do not have immediate internet access should not hear of campus closings before traveling to make it back for class. If students had received text messages or phone calls telling them of the campus closing, it may have prevented them from making a dangerous drive only to arrive at an empty classroom.
The Daily understands that the university was well-intentioned in trying to respect professors and maintain its high academic standards, and we do not propose that students should be exempt from classes simply because it is unpleasant to walk outside. In fact, the majority of students live on or very near to campus; it makes sense that Tufts would hold classes in inclement weather, since most students could make it without putting themselves in danger.
But when it is clear that a storm of such magnitude is going to occur, the safety of all students and employees should take priority, and those who do commute to campus for work or school should not have to put themselves in danger. In the future, Tufts should have the foresight to close the university before, and not after, travel conditions have already become hazardous.
