Snow Day
Snow Days No More: Students Not Warming to Cornell’s New Policy for the Coldest Days
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Under the new policy, in-person classes will be moved online in case of inclement weather.
The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/snow-day/)
Under the new policy, in-person classes will be moved online in case of inclement weather.
Cornell announced the second snow day of the academic year — after some had already made it up the slope, arrived on central campus and sat through their first classes of the day.
Ithaca College, Tompkins County Community College and the Ithaca County School District had canceled classes and told students to stay home, but Cornellians were still trudging up the slope to make it to classes and work for early morning classes; Cornell cancelled classes as of 10 a.m.
The University cancelled classes and closed the campus on Monday due to the latest seasonal storm, and although past shutdowns have been rare, snow storms have affected campus in various ways over the decades.
On Sunday, just minutes after leaving my house, I saw a gray Nissan SUV laying on its back in an icy ditch. Between mile markers 406 and 407 on 190-W, it had skidded 40 feet off the side of the highway, finally coming to a halt down in the ditch. I was scared, not just for them, but for myself and my parents. And so began my treacherous journey back to university. On Sunday, I received a notification that my bus from the Buffalo airport to Ithaca’s Green Street would not be running due to dangerous roads.
The University canceled all Monday classes on its Ithaca campus amid a snowstorm predicted to hit Ithaca with approximately six to 12 inches of snow. This is only the fourth time in the past 26 years the University has canceled all classes because of inclement weather.
As students trek back to campus after Thanksgiving Break, Cornell’s Ithaca campus is under a Winter Storm Watch from Sunday until Monday night. Approximately eight to 12 inches of snow are expected to hit Ithaca starting Sunday morning. Multiple transportation services have made inclement weather changes for weekend travelers. The company OurBus canceled all its Sunday trips to Ithaca and added additional Saturday trips, according to 14850.com. Coach USA’s Shortline Ithaca Platinum service rescheduled all Sunday departures to leave between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Other Shortline buses leaving from New York City on Sunday will only operate between 8 a.m. to 10:15 a.m, according to the service’s website.
Compared to last year’s storm, which left Cornell buried under 12 inches of snow, Friday’s winter storm brought only four inches of snow, as per preliminary reports on the NOAA website.
The Ithaca campus “will be closed and classes are cancelled,” read an updated version of a Cornell emergency alert.
Despite the reportedly 10-inch-foot snow on Wednesday, university administration says it would take more for Cornell to announce another snow day after its first in 24 years on Mar. 14, 2017.