[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

While still struggling to deal with Madison?s snowiest
winter on record, University of Wisconsin officials said Wednesday they are
going to reevaluate how the institution deals with snow removal ? and they said
they need help.

Alan Fish, UW associate vice provost for facilities,
released a statement in response to critiques of the job the university has
done removing snow on campus.

According to the statement, UW will hold meetings this
spring ?before concerns of our customers are forgotten? to discuss options for
improving its current performance.

John Harrod, director of UW Physical Plant, the department
that controls snow removal, said UW has already created an e-mail address to
receive suggestions for improvements. The address is [email protected].

?We established the site to get people to help identify the
problem areas,? Harrod said. ?It?s not a complaint site.?

According to Harrod, the entire grounds crew for the
university is deployed full time on snow removal during the winter. He added a
lot of maintenance crews and janitorial staff are also diverted to help with
the efforts, affecting the cleanliness of the buildings themselves.

Harrod said during snowstorms some members of the snow
removal crew cannot travel to work, making the job even harder. He added the
university has considered hiring students to place on call lists for
emergencies.

However, this does not always work because some workers fail
to respond when called, he said.

?Part of the challenge we?ve had in past years is that folks
aren?t necessarily reliable,? Harrod said.

UW officials said they hope to have ?sit-down sessions? with
students, faculty and staff sometime near the end of March or the beginning of
April, according to Harrod.

UW senior Max Bruner said he has had no trouble getting
around campus, as UW has done a great job considering the record amount of
snowfall this year.

?As a student walking around, I haven?t had a major
problem,? Bruner said. ?You just have got to be careful not to slip. I see all
the tractors and everything moving the snow, so I don?t have any complaints.?

Bruner said he is also impressed with UW?s use of less salt
and more sand in the mixtures it uses to deal with the ice because he said the
practice is cleaner for the lake.

UW graduate student Josh Clements said UW should reevaluate
the areas they take care of first but added the university does a good job
otherwise.

?Considering we?ve gotten so much snow this year, I think
it?s a little unreasonable for people to expect it to be gone the next
morning,? Clements said. ?Especially considering you have to be paying people
overtime to be out there shoveling snow.?