By CHRIS ESSNER
STAFF WRITER
With the recent snow finally melting away, Rutgers students want the university to change its winter cleanup and cancellation policies after months of problems with the current system.
Students have often complained about Rutgers only canceling part of the periods for class on bad-weather days instead of the whole class schedule.
“It got kind of ridiculous,” said Donald Micallef, a Rutgers sophomore. “I would go on Facebook and see that every other college in our area had cancelled classes because of the bad weather, and Rutgers would still have them.”
Others agreed that the university takes too long to make a decision, arguing that there should be a specific time set on the previous day when the university would be forced to make a decision to cancel all classes.
“If I look outside and I can’t see the road because all of the snow, then I should not have class,” said Micallef, “They are putting us all at risk by not canceling classes. I pay to go here, so I expect to be kept safe.”
The snow also causes increased risk for commuters who are forced to drive in the weather.
Brian DeMaio, a sophomore who commutes from Manalapan, worried about his safety while trying to get to class.
“The conditions were awful. My car was sliding all over the road. I honestly don’t know why classes were not canceled, and actually one of the days I decided I’m not going to risk it so I stayed home,” said DeMaio.
Choosing to skip classes is something that many commuters were forced to do, as road conditions became worse.
“I don’t live on campus so if I get stuck in New Brunswick, I don’t have a place to go,” DeMaio said.
When he did go to class, he remembered seeing numerous accidents and cars stuck on the side of the road while on his drive to campus.
He said that even roads that had been cleared were very narrow, leaving only enough room for one-way traffic. This was due to cars parked on the side of the road, and the snow buildup around them.
Another area of concern was the cleanup of the snow once it had stopped coming down. There were many complaints about black ice and walkways that had not been cleared, despite the fact the snow had stopped days earlier.
Christie Cangialosi, a sophomore recalled almost falling on the ice when she was getting off the bus. “You really had to be careful, and watch where you were stepping,” she said.
As the time went by and snow started melting, people felt the university just forgot about the cleanup. At night, the conditions were worse due to the freezing over of all the melted snow.
Lastly there were issues with the buses running late. Students had to deal with many bus delays during the weeks after the snow due to poor road conditions.
For some of the less frequent buses, this meant students would have to wait for as long as 45 minutes longer at the bus stop.
“It was really difficult because most of the time you were in a rush and you would have to stand there. I was late for so many classes,” Cangialosi said. |
