March/April 2019
THIS ISSUE
Phone Addiction is Real
Spanish Carnival
Wrestling in the Works
Gov’t Shutdown
Why Does Alvernia Take So Long to Close? Sidney Goodman Contrubuting Writer Pennsylvania winters always yield at least one snowstorm, and townships rarely seem prepared. Roads are improperly salted, some are barely plowed, and those unfortunate enough to lack four-wheel drive are lucky if they can even make it out of their driveways. When these weather conditions drift in, high schools seem to close at the drop of a hat. Even cold temperatures are enough for them to delay their starting times. However, colleges do not seem to share that same sentiment. Many remain open until the last possible second, even when driving conditions
are bad. Alvernia is one of these schools. Colleges have an easier time staying open than K-12 schools. Most students live on campus and do not have to brave the roads. However, Alvernia has many commuter students to consider. Even when a 40-car pileup occurred on Route 422, where 24 people were injured, the university remained open. When another major snowstorm hit the area, Alvernia did not close until the evening, while other schools like RACC and Kutztown closed much earlier. “It wasn’t really fair for Alvernia commuters,” Jen Rinehart, sophomore sports management major, said. “We’re the ones risking our lives driving in those unsafe
road conditions.” Commuters suffer most when it comes to snow storms. Because of the university’s tendency to remain open even in extreme weather, many students are snowed in their homes and unable to make it to class. “I do worry about the days that I have to drive to school when the roads are icy,” Rinehart said. “I stayed home one day during the first bad storm, but Alvernia didn’t cancel until around 4 or 5 p.m. I was worried for my safety and didn’t want to risk anything.” Her commute is mostly highway and takes around 20 minutes, but there are often still hazardous places, especially early in the morning. Although Rinehart said that her professors were very accommodating and would email her any work she missed, she still was concerned about missing classes due to snow. These sentiments were shared by first-year nursing major Bella Avadanian as well, who lives in the Morgantown area and has a similar commute time. “Depending on the day of the week, I have three to four classes a day,” Avadanian said. “When the university doesn’t close but the roads
are bad, I feel like I still need to go in because I do get stressed over missing class.” Her commute consists of many back roads, which are often not treated by the time she has to leave, as well as a particularly treacherous hill on Route 10. If the snow is bad enough, her car is unable to make it safely down that slope. As a nursing student, Avadanian is taking two labs, both on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those classes give her the most stress because of the amount of information given during each lab. “I do feel like I’m a step behind everyone if I miss lab and lecture classes due to the information that I missed in just an hour or two.” Avadanian works extremely hard to catch up with the work that she has missed, but as absences due to snow pile up, the pressure only increases. While it is difficult and frustrating for commuter students when the university remains open during poor weather conditions, they do not always see the larger picture. According to Doug Smith, the Vice President for Finance and Administration, one of the main reasons that Alvernia stays open when other nearby universities
Photo Courtesy of Emily Moleski
what’s in
Volume 58 Issue 2
Here is the 40 car pileup on Route 222 which was caused by a sudden snow squall impeding visibility of drivers.
close is because of its evening classes. “Often it’s about not so much the undergraduate students but being ready and preserving that for students at night,” Smith said. Adult students are on a shorter mod than undergraduate students, so they may have only fourteen sessions during their mod. If the university closed every time the weather took a turn for the worse, those students would have an incredibly difficult time completing their classes while trying to balance their jobs and families. Even though there is still a large percentage of commuter students, Alvernia is much more residential than it used to be, the policies for inclement weather reflect this change. “When I first got here, we were maybe one third residential, two thirds commuters, so weather was handled differently because most people were commuting,” Smith said. “Now that most of the undergraduates live on campus, we try to be mindful of both directions.” It is difficult for Smith and the others involved to balance commuters, residents, and evening students when it comes to delays or
cancellations, but they do their best to accommodate all student body groups. Snowstorms and bad road conditions are frustrating to everyone, whether they have a potentially treacherous commute or not. While it would be convenient for commuter students if Alvernia closed for every snowfall, it is important for commuters to consider those whose academics would be affected, such as the adults who come to study in the evenings. Sometimes, it is necessary to look at the bigger picture, consider the entire academic community, and have some understanding when road conditions do not cooperate with busy schedules. Don’t get snowed over by misinformation. Read the Alvernian for news analysis of the issues that matter most to you (like snow closures, or missing cups)
