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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy do Universities resist closing during bad weather?
At least two Universities in Kansas took their sweet time closing despite the governor declaring a state of emergency, public transit not running, and all other schools in the area being closed. Topeka Kansas ended up with over a foot of snow and Washburn University insisted on staying open for morning classes. Emporia State University didn't seem to notice that all other schools in the area were cancelled and the city transit wasn't running and stayed open for morning classes as well. It has been reported that several ESU students were taken to the hospital by ambulance due to injuries from falling. When some government offices and all other schools are closed due to bad weather, colleges should be closed. When there's no public transit, colleges should definitely be closed. Not all students who live off campus can afford cars. To make matters worse, many college professors have strict no excuse attendance policies. I guess Kansas college students are expected to walk to school during winter storm warnings? Are Universities in other states this resistant to closing due to bad weather?
MADem
(135,425 posts)They should just program an extra week of "shit happens" into their budget, and if they don't need the extra days, call it a windfall.
LuvNewcastle
(16,820 posts)in order to be accredited? For instance, when a course is said to give 3 hours worth of credit, does a school promise to provide a certain number of hours worth of classroom time in order to fulfill the requirements of their accreditation for that course? If that is the case, I could see why they would want to make sure they stay on schedule, otherwise they would have to make up a certain amount of days at the end of the semester and that could get very complicated.
fishwax
(29,146 posts)That's not to say that universities don't sometimes stay open when they should close, and I can't speak to the specifics of the situation in Kansas.
The schools I've been associated with have certainly been hesitant to cancel classes, but during inclement weather that didn't result in closure have alerted the community to the situation, counseled caution/judgment in deciding whether to attend class, and urged leniency for those not able to attend.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,158 posts)and demonstrators and so on. A lot of it should be taught in a certain order. Say "we're pausing for 2 days", and suddenly everything that was happening on a Tuesday happens on a Thursday, for the next 5 weeks or something - which screws up everyone's plans with life outside the university.
greymattermom
(5,751 posts)Closed, except for the hospital, or course.
a la izquierda
(11,784 posts)I canceled my classes. No student's life is worth what I was talking about that day, nor is my own.
They closed Monday, but we did have a foot of snow.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)Just a guess. .
FSogol
(45,363 posts)DetlefK
(16,423 posts)They have schedules for conducting experiments and/or for handing in reports.
And sometimes you just can't leave a machine unsupervised for more than half a day.
If something goes wrong, a day lost can mean a week lost or worse.
(One Friday afternoon, a colleague of mine went home, with the incubator still running. She had been feeding and catering the bacteria all week and needed them after the weekend for an experiment. Somebody else came in after her and switched off the incubator because it was running unsupervised or wasting electricity or whatever. When my colleague returned on Monday, the bacterias were dead and her whole measurement-plan was thrown into disarray.)
BainsBane
(53,003 posts)So everyone still had to work. The only thing I can figure is that it must relate to funding.
They refused to close between terms when even the grocery stores shut down. It doesn't have to do with classes or students. There is another reason.
aikoaiko
(34,127 posts)Because of scheduling there really isn't a good way to add class time.
Its particularly tough on lab class where they meet once a week that are linked to lectures.