It’s been two weeks since the snowstorm that left our streets coated in up to seven inches of snow. After hours of rain and sleet followed by freezing temperatures that lasted through to as recently as Monday the 9th, the land was covered in a solid sheet more akin to a shell than a blanket.

This shell of ice and snow proved incredibly difficult for the region to handle, with many areas remaining unplowed or shoveled until it had sufficiently melted.

This is understandable, after all, it is very rare for this area to get so much snow, let alone with freezing rain that solidifies the snow and leaves it immovable. Still, the response to this inclement weather was lackluster.

Rowan University cancelled classes on Monday, Jan. 26, but did not address the subsequent freezing temperatures or dangerously icy conditions that threatened commuters and residential students alike.

While the university leaves absences after Monday up to the discretion of students and faculty, that does not protect said students from potential blowback, including academic consequences for the decision to safeguard their lives.

It is especially important to remember that the day following a snowstorm is usually not the most dangerous for commuters and pedestrians alike; it is often the days when the snow compresses, melts, and refreezes into sheets of ice that pose the most risk.

Furthermore, it seems as though Rowan did not find the below-freezing conditions to be as concerning for students as they truly were, with daytime temperatures as low as 11 degrees on some days and the “feels-like” temperature dropping into the negatives with wind chill.

Many Rowan students are pedestrians who must walk to and from classes all day. Holding class in weather conditions as cold as this may make sense in a region more prone to freezing weather, such as the upper Midwest, but it is far more of a gamble for safety here in South Jersey.

New Jersey residents are much less likely to be prepared to trek through inclement weather, even when choosing to move onto a college campus like Rowan, which demands students walk up to 20 minutes from one locale to another.

The Whit staff believes that it is up to Rowan to wield their administrative discretion to keep students safe and cancel classes in the face of weather that endangers students’ safety, especially with regard to the temperature and walking conditions. It is also Rowan’s responsibility to protect students from blowback should they choose to prioritize their safety.

Students always have the right to skip and/or ditch class and face the consequences, but in the case of inclement weather, they should be protected in that choice.

That was especially true in the aftermath of this most recent snowstorm, which left piles of snow flanking sidewalks and corners to melt and refreeze ad nauseam until the weather finally warms up enough to melt it all for good. 

Some commuters were even in a position where they couldn’t drive in if they wanted to, with their vehicles completely encased in rock-hard ice or blocked in from shoddy plowing jobs or driveways frozen solid with snow.

The plowing and shoveling job on campus itself was questionable, with many areas left unshoveled for days. Some regions were not shoveled thoroughly enough, thus allowing melting snow to refreeze directly into walking paths, and other areas had massive piles of solid ice in inconvenient places.

One such ice block was dangerously located outside of the emergency exit of a Wilson Hall dance classroom.

It is imperative that Rowan University create a better response to bad weather conditions, such as snow, in order to ensure the safety of students, before and after they are on campus. Otherwise, some people will continue to endanger themselves in order to protect themselves against academic repercussions, and other people will endanger their standing here at Rowan in order to protect their lives.

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