Natalie Barletta – Opinions Editor
Getting a cancellation email from Patrick Dilger has become a regular occurrence lately at Southern Connecticut State University. Although students have enjoyed the extra downtime to get extra sleep and watch Netflix, the many snow days have affected classes and other activities at Southern.
Due to the snow days, professors all over campus have to scramble to catch up and adjust their syllabi to fit everything in. This can be stressful on the professors, because unlike being in public schools, one can’t make the time up.
Professor Rizzi, a math professor at Southern, expects that his syllabus will change as a result of constant snow days.
“Well, traditionally, the math department will alter the syllabus,” said Rizzi. “Not yet, but consider it.”
Professor Andrew Smyth, who teaches English at Southern, has also had a hard time with the snow days. He teaches a Tuesday night class that meets once a week and has been affected by the snowstorms. Since it’s early in the semester, he has been experiencing problems in an attempt to catch up.
“It’s problematic missing a night class early in the semester, because you can’t tell students to read on their own,” said Smyth, “We need class time to process new material.”
Many students around campus haven’t had their Monday night classes. Sam Canfield, a double major in Early Childhood Education and Psychology, also felt the effects of not having school on Mondays. Her Human Sexuality class, which meets on Mondays from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m., has only met once since the start of the semester.
“Although it’s nice to have snow days, some classes on Monday would be nice,” said Canfield. “We have missed two quizzes already that were supposed to happen and our test has been pushed back.”
To make matters worse, school was closed on Monday due to President’s Day. Canfield’s class won’t meet hopefully until the end of February.
“We had a group project that was assigned on the first day that we now have to complete outside of class because we keep missing days in which the professor tells us we are going to have time to work on it,” said Canfield.
Nursing student Christie Bevis feels like the snow days now can affect the workload later. She herself hasn’t had a lot of work to make up, and feels like “we haven’t been in the swing of things.”
“I can see how the workload can add up which can negatively affect some students and professors,” said Bevis.
Southern isn’t the only campus to be closing due to inclement weather conditions. According to an article in the Harvard Crimson, Harvard University has had four snow days since the start of its semester. This is a rare occurrence and the only times that the university has been closed seven times in the last four decades.
To make up for lost time, Harvard professors are considering holding classes on reading days, scheduling affected campuses on Fridays, and offering videoconferences online.
The classroom isn’t the only place on Southern’s campus that has been affected by the cancellations. The campus-counseling center has had trouble with its appointments due to weather cancellations.
“It has been affecting appointments because of snow,” said Administrative Assistant Carol Ciociola.
Ciociola was happy to report that they have been doing a great job fitting everyone in.
“We can’t do anything about the weather,” said Ciociola.
Photo Credit: Derek Torrellas
