‘Twas the night before Monday, when all through the campus snowflakes covered the streets, white like a canvas.
The students were nestled all snug in their beds, while the prospect of cancellations danced in their heads.
When out on the Twitter arose such a clatter, I reached for my phone to see what was the matter.
Now EVSC.
Now Evansville Diocese.
Now, South Gibson and Warrick, WKU and Posey.
But this is where our beloved story ends.
Things were looking good and all signs pointed to a snow day for USI students early Monday morning.
Housing and Residence Life sent out an email just before 9 p.m. Saturday stating a winter weather advisory had been issued for the Evansville area effective from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday, and that by Monday morning the area could have one to three inches of snow.
Within three hours of the email, the National Weather Service upgraded the Tri-State area to a Winter Storm Warning.
By Monday morning, nearly four inches of snow covered USI’s campus.
Students who woke up around 5:54 that morning woke up to a new Evansville record low of nine degrees.
Students who woke up approximately 10 minutes later saw the official announcement that USI was open and operating under normal conditions – as were Monday classes.
The university’s decision caught many students, including a couple of editors at The Shield, off-guard.
Our editor-in-chief and I were up before the crack of dawn monitoring the school closings as they were announced.
At 5:13 a.m., the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation was the first to announce all of its schools were closed.
The district’s announcement was followed by closings from all Catholic schools of the Diocese of Evansville, South Gibson School Corporation, Warrick County and the Metropolitan School District of North Posey County schools.
Western Kentucky University-Owensboro announced it would open at 11 a.m.
Following these announcements, a tweet breaking the news that USI was closed was drafted and ready to go from The Shield’s account so that all I would have to do was hit send once I heard the official announcement.
Our editor-in-chief sent me a text that read, “I don’t know why (the university is) waiting until 6 (to announce the closing). It’s going to happen.”
We were that sure.
The official announcement came at 6:09 a.m.
With every surrounding high school either closed or on a delay, the decision to close the university should’ve been virtually guaranteed.
Yes, USI is an institution of higher learning.
No, just because a high school cancels classes, it doesn’t mean USI should.
But why do high schools close when it snows?
Transportation.
Many students ride the bus to school. Road conditions may not be ideal and it may be too dangerous to transport students, or it may be too cold for students to wait at a bus stop.
What makes USI different from the surrounding high schools?
In January, the Office of Planning, Research and Assessment reported that 71.8 percent of students commuted to campus each day, with some students commuting from as far as Martin County.
By 10:30 Monday morning, the Evansville Police Department and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office had worked 34 weather-induced accidents.
At least 32 percent of the wrecks were close to USI’s campus, with two property damage accidents occurring on University Parkway and at least eight accidents on the Lloyd Expressway.
Slide-offs were reported by local media outlets hours before USI announced its decision.
By remaining open, the university left the potential for one of its over 6,000 commuter students to be in the Jeep that hit the wall on the Lloyd at Barker Avenue, or the car that slid off into a ditch on University Parkway near Upper Mt. Vernon Road.
Students living in on-campus apartments are not allowed to have their cars in the campus lots before 3 p.m., leaving them the option to either walk to campus in record low temperatures, or stand and wait at the bus stops in record low temperatures.
Sure, the DoubleMap app allows students to see when buses are approaching to minimize their exposure to the elements, but the DoubleMap app can’t teleport a student from his/her class in the Health Professions building to his/her class in Rice Library.
The university should not close every time it snows or drops below 32 degrees.
It should, however, re-evaluate its closure procedure.
What about staff whose kids have a snow day and now have to scramble for last minute arrangements because USI didn’t decide until the last minute? Or commuter students who have to be on the road and can’t wait until dawn for a decision?
As opposed to just tweeting a decision, the university should send an email explaining their decision – and why four inches of snow, nine-degree weather and 34 accidents didn’t justify closure.