When you live in Wisconsin, you accept some inherent facts of life. If you don?t eat cheese and drink beer, you?re going to be looked down upon. Construction companies make all their money during the summer, making your life hell while they repair roads. And most importantly, get used to snow, especially in February.

As much as I?ve come to understand and accept these Wisconsin laws of nature, I?ve also come to question their effects on our lives. Everything except beer and cheese, that is ? for that would be blasphemy.

Specifically, I?m speaking of Wisconsin weather. I?m fully aware that Wisconsin is always going to have inclement weather, and many times we all will have to suck it up and keep going on with our lives. But I feel like this Wednesday was an exception to our unwritten code of conduct that everyone could appreciate. That is, everyone except our beloved university.

Institutions all across the state including other universities, public schools and even businesses shut their doors in observance of the snow day. But it took nearly the entire morning and afternoon, during which the majority of classes were held, for University of Wisconsin officials to cancel class.

What could possibly have been the rationale for requiring professors, students and staff to travel to class in some of the most dangerous conditions we?ve seen in a long time? The real answer is that no one really knows or is willing to say.

Many could argue that we?re not the quintessential commuter school with a heavy reliance on good road conditions. But is that really a sound argument? Take UW-Whitewater, a university with only about 10,000 students, many of whom commute. Classes were cancelled early Wednesday morning.

Now, look at UW-Madison. We alone have more than 2,000 faculty members, whom most likely rely on good road conditions. In addition, we in fact do have a commuter population equally reliant on fair road conditions.

In a message posted on the UW-Madison homepage, officials gave permission for faculty to try to escape back home early ? but only under the condition that they were to use their personal vacation time. Seems a bit outrageous that UW-Madison officials were essentially discouraging their employees from attempting to return home early on the same day that more than 2,000 vehicles were stranded overnight on I-90. I guess making sure students were able to comprehend supply and demand was of greater importance than avoiding a night sleeping in your car on the highway.

According to UW guidelines, ?The Chancellor is responsible for determining if, for the safety and welfare of students and staff, classes will be postponed or some services suspended due to inclement weather.? On a day when Madison declares a snow emergency, there is a winter weather warning and all surrounding schools shut their doors, what was Chancellor John Wiley thinking when he decided not to cancel class until the majority of the storm had passed?

I?m fully aware that merely whining about the way the university handled a snowstorm is not going to accomplish much. But I feel obligated to voice concern over the seemingly unchecked power of the chancellor and other UW officials.

Safety should, at all times, trump education. If UW officials want to argue that notifying students and faculty of cancellations would prove to be too daunting a task or that the weather conditions were not a danger to the welfare of more than 45,000 people, we have people in positions of power who are truly not in tune with their colleagues or students.

E-mailing students would probably prove efficient enough in communicating the cancellation of classes. If they feel as though that wouldn?t be sufficient, create a mass text messaging alert system that could be a simple option for students and faculty on their applications.

There truly is no excuse as to why classes were not canceled Wednesday. The potential for a similar or more powerful storm is entirely possible. Safety needs to be the concern of administrators when it comes to an issue such as this. If this university wants nothing more than for education to trump safety, then from now on, I?m going to give them a lesson on civil disobedience and not show up.

Ben Patterson ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science.