Snow School: Winter weather delays spring semester
Written by Aaron Bressler and Jessie Heath | 
Methodist University students returned to campus after holiday break with heavy hearts and even heavier bags. Break had ended and the opening of the residence halls on campus signaled that a new semester was about to begin. Students went to sleep on Sunday night with the knowledge that, on Monday holiday break would officially be over.
However, a large winter storm struck North Carolina on the night of Sunday Jan 9, leaving a heavy layer of ice and snow on highways and downing power lines throughout the state. Cumberland County was blanketed under three and a half inches of snow on Monday morning, causing Methodist University to shut down for the next two days.
On Monday morning, the campus sidewalks and roadways were covered in a thick layer of snow. Part of Joe Stout View Drive was closed because snow had made it too dangerous to drive down the hill. Members of the maintenance staff could be seen and heard all day as they plowed the roads around campus. Public Safety said that despite the hazardous conditions, no major injuries or accidents were caused by the snow.
“I think our students handled this most recent weather event really well,” said Chief Phillips. “Everyone seemed to be patient, adapt well, and have fun without doing anything that was terribly unsafe.”
Many students were concerned about the possibility of make-up days. Since the registrar doesn’t have a clear cut snow day policy, they look at the days missed in relation to the number of days required for the semester. The registrar said that there is no need to make up the days missed due to the snow at this time.
A mass email sent out at 6:42a.m. Monday morning stated that Methodist University was open as usual, regardless of the snow. Another email was sent out at 7:16a.m., and caused mass confusion with its message: The University is now CLOSED, REPEAT MU IS NOT CLOSED, 10 JAN 2011.
Out of all the students at Methodist, commuters seemed to be most affected by the snow day. Mindy Song, a commuter student at Methodist had received the email giving students the go-ahead to come to school and was already on the way to MU when the second email telling students to stay home was sent.
“They could have sent the emails a little earlier” said Song.
Residential students did not have as far to travel as their commuting peers, but many still felt like the decision to cancel classes for Monday should have happened before classes actually began.
“The number of times it took to inform students that class was canceled was ridiculous,” said James Barr, a senior residential student. “It took three tries for the email to be sent with the correct information on it.”
Many residential students took advantage of the extended break. Groups of students participated in outdoor snow day activities, such as sledding and snowball fights. Others decided to remain indoors and enjoy the warmth. Some students took the time to focus on a major activity that they would not get to do much of during the semester: sleep.
Methodist University remained closed on Tuesday Jan. 10, and operated on a 2-hour delay on Wednesday Jan. 11. The first full day of classes was not until Thursday, a full three days after classes were scheduled to begin. On Wednesday and Thursday mornings, the maintenance staff arrived early to salt and sand the roads and sidewalks so that students and faculty could get to class. Maintenance was unavailable for comment.
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