The Rotunda

Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Opinion

Longwood students pay good money for their classes and I am no exception. I actually enjoy class most of the time. I came to Longwood to learn and that's what I aim to do, which is good because that's what the university expects all of us to do. The past few days were no exception-however, if you haven't noticed we had a little bit of snow. I understand a school has to keep running, but when a large portion of your student body cannot get to campus safely, it's probably not a good idea to tell them they have to be there.

I am talking of course of the [number] commuter students who travel in from out of town, live in Sunchase or Longwood Village (like me). All of whom had to drive to campus for class or find some other way of getting there because the Farmville Area Bus (FAB) was nowhere to be found.

Longwood put the Winter Weather Advisory on the website at longwood.edu explaining the FAB would not be running Saturday. It did not indicate the FAB would not be running on Sunday either, which would not have mattered but Longwood kept the weekend's basketball games on schedule, which I had to work at. I am glad the games still happened because the schedule would have been thrown out of whack and I made a little money after getting rides to and from campus.

I would have driven myself from the Village, but a series of hilarious incidents (if they hadn't happened to me) kept that from being possible. The first being asked to park in a different place at lower ground (where the ice gathered…) with the promise the higher ground would be plowed and snow shovels would be provided to help us dig our cars out. Well, the lower lots were plowed first early in the morning, so we were walled in and the ice packed tighter behind the vehicles. The promised snow shovels were not available, because the club house was not open before 11 a.m.

In spite of many annoyances, the plow operators were very helpful all day in assisting those trying to get their vehicles out of the snow and ice.

All day Sunday I witnessed at least a dozen near accidents, which led me to believe campus would be closed Monday-nope.

At approximately 5:02 p.m. Sunday, students received this message from Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Tim Pierson:
"Longwood Community: All classes, activities and services will open at normally scheduled hours Monday, February 1, 2010."

At that moment I looked out my window at the Village, laughing at all the snow still there, knowing for a fact there was no way I was going to get to campus safely. I also pondered how many liability suits Longwood was about to be slapped with.

Continued...

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