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Despite freeze, UW opens
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by Carl Jaeger
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Despite subfreezing temperatures and bitter winds across campus Monday, the University of Wisconsin decided to take no administrative action in canceling classes.
"It's a very rare occurrence that the university will ever close due to weather," UW spokesperson John Lucas said. "It doesn't happen very often."
When the university does cancel school, Lucas said it is due to students or faculty's ability to get to and from campus, usually involving "blizzard-like" conditions rather than cold temperatures.
According to the Weather Channel, Madison's temperature hovered between a high of minus 2 and a low of minus 12 degrees Monday morning.
"It didn't meet the threshhold of being dangerous for people to make it to campus [or] class with the bus options that are available," Lucas said.
Lucas added that if Madison Metro — Madison's public bus system — was unable to operate, it would be something "definitely taken into consideration" when deciding on canceling school.
In extreme situations where students "absolutely" could not make it to campus, Lucas recommended students contact their professors and explain their situation.
"We think most people would be pretty flexible in terms of making up a quiz or assignment or giving an extension," Lucas said.
Classes were last cancelled at UW Feb. 16, 2006, but the decision was made late in the afternoon, only effecting evening classes after the campus experienced "blizzard-like" conditions, Lucas said.
The last day classes were cancelled outright for an entire day was in 1990.
In records dating back to 1965, Lucas said that there have only been roughly "half a dozen instances" where the university was closed due to weather.
UW journalism professor Greg Downey said he was aware of the potential weather issue, but chose to keep his Monday morning class open.
"Since the general university didn't close and since I was coming in, taking the bus and bundling up, my hope was that most of the students attending my class would be living pretty close and would be able to bundle up," Downey said. "I didn't really have a concern about holding class."
Downey added that class attendance "seemed about average."
UW freshman Rachael Freeman, from Kailua, Hawaii, said people are making it out to be much colder then it actually is, including those from back home.
"I've gotten a lot of phone calls from family and friends back in Hawaii making sure I'm surviving," Freeman said. "They don't understand that in Wisconsin, seasons are a way of life."
UW sophomore Mark Bender also said the low temperatures weren't going to prevent him from learning.
"When I wake up and realize that it's cold outside, I wish I would have gone to school in California, but it doesn't mean I'm not going to class," Bender said. "It's Wisconsin. It's going to be cold in the winter."
Lucas said that extreme, unpredictable weather is part of living in the Upper Midwest.
"Nobody has a lot of fun and it's not a great experience being out there today, but every once in a while we get a reminder of attending school or working in Wisconsin," Lucas said. "People just have to deal with it every once in a while, as unpleasant as it is."
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 3:20am):
much colder THAN it actually is
love, charlie
(you don't have to publish this one..)
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 11:16am):
Yeah, the buses are a great idea if they actually run on time or are accessible to people.
This morning I waited outside 20 minutes for a bus that never came (it's supposed to circulate every 10 minutes), finally deciding to walk the 15 minutes to class anyways. In the windchills we had yesterday, you can get frostbite within 10-30 minutes... you do the math. Furthermore, half the time the buses aren't even picking people up because they're already full.
Mr. Lucas should realize that the buses are not a reliable or viable option for many students. Maybe in weather like this the Madison Metro System should add a few more buses to the route to increase their regularity, but as it stands they aren't enough.
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 12:01pm):
Does anyone know if trollys would run in this kind of cold?
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 1:59pm):
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce new technology called "coats, hats, scarves, boots, and gloves." A new strategy in the war on coldness has also been implemented, called "layering."
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 3:43pm):
Why are all the Engineering buildings the first to have their pipes freeze? How about flooding the brand new ECB? You'd think they'd be able to have better flagship representing the college.
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 4:01pm):
I have never had a problem with the buses running on time. Of course, I would never take the bus because I didn't want to walk 15 minutes...
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 4:11pm):
With all the whining of the "deadly" temperatures, how many deaths have there been so far on campus?
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 4:19pm):
who copy-edited this?
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 4:34pm):
Ah, the blizzard of 1990. Mifflin St., keg of Old Mil' in the street, tackle football in the snow, impromptu party. THAT was fun.
Anonymous (February 6, 2007 @ 7:13pm):
"you can get frostbite within 10-30 minutes..."
Put some clothes on idiot. You can drown if you stand in the rain with your mouth open too.
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