I’ll go ahead and say it: I agree with the University’s choice to not close campus. </p>
Okay, okay, before you grab your pitchforks and torches, hear me out. I’m from Eastern Ontario. If there is one thing I know, it’s winter: from -40 days to snowbanks up to your hip. I’m not claiming it’s like Northern Ontario, but I’m 100 per cent confident I understand winter better than the GTA population of Waterloo.
Let me reiterate that: I’m sure many students are familiar with winter, but they don’t know it. I was born in the cold, raised by it (literally because my birthday is Dec. 17), so I get winter — I know winter. Monday was not that bad.
However, I will be the first to say the morning of Monday Feb. 2 was rough. I left my apartment and there was snow, and then there was road. There was a sidewalk and a bench somewhere in there, but God knew where they were.
Did it bother me? Not really, I had my big boots on that day because, as soon as I looked out the window, I knew, “This is going to be a tough day.”
Before I left to catch the bus at 7:44 a.m., I was listening to the radio. I guess I was hoping for a snow day, because c’mon who wasn’t, but I didn’t mind. All the other schools and universities were closed, and I left thinking, “Maybe they’ll cancel by the time I get there,” but still I left for campus.
Funny thing is, when I got on the bus, the bus driver was adamant on all school’s being closed, even though many passengers were saying, “No, no, Waterloo is open.” She just shook her head at us like we were crazy, but whatever, we all got on the bus and continued onward.
Cue getting off at DC: besides Ring Road, nothing is plowed. Did this bother me? Not really, considering I had my big boots. So I blazed a trail through the snow. I made it to PAS for my 8:30 class with a Tim’s cup in hand; out of 25 students only about eight showed (and we got extra participation points — booyah!)
When I left said class, it was a lovely day. The temperature was very nice, and yet people were still complaining about how campus should have been closed.
Here is where I make my argument: the morning was rough, but the rest of the day was fine once roads were plowed.
For those outside of Waterloo, yes it would be very difficult/impossible to get to class. In those cases, I say stay home (I’m pretty sure the university said make smart decisions in such situations), but otherwise a majority of students should have been able to make it to campus at some point in the day.
Morning classes in general should have been postponed, but afternoon/evening classes would have been fine.
Everyone needs to stop acting like we’re the only kids in class who missed some lame birthday party. We’re adults: sometimes we get what we want, sometimes we don’t.
Y’know the craziest thing about being an adult? You don’t have to go in the first place. And the best thing about not having a snow day is that we don’t have to do lame makeup classes on the weekend (not that anyone goes to those).
Elizabeth Esnard
3B Psychology
