The city of Hays received about six inches of snow last Tuesday with almost as much yesterday evening and judging the reaction from Fort Hays Students, six inches equates to a snow-pocolips. The University administration did not close campus until 1 p.m. last Tuesday and the outrage that campus was open was almost palpable. In a rare act of solidarity with my fellow Fort Haysziens, I believe that closing campus at that time was a bad call. Although I diverge with my compatriots on the overall reason, I believe, FHSU should not have shut down at all.
See the thing about college is, everyone here from the newest student to the most tenured faculty are adults. Adults, in Hays ‘Merica, have a little thing known as freedom. Freedom to worship, to write opinions opposing the state (unless you are an academic), to assemble, and most importantly in this case the freedom to not come to work when there is snow on the ground.
Yes, you don’t have to come to class if you don’t want to.
And let me be clear, I’ve had classes in almost every department at FHSU over the course of my education, and I do not believe I have ever came across an instructor that would be upset if I informed them that due to inclement weather I would be unable to attend. Vice versa, I have never came across a student that would be upset if an instructor cancelled classes due to inclement weather. Somehow the implication that campus is open implies that every student and every instructor must be there. This assumption borders on absurdity as nary a day goes by that I don’t see a notice on a classroom door that a class has been canceled.
My guess would be that students just see snow and for some reason magically revert to grade-schoolers where snow meant a bonus day off, a veritable free day, where anything goes. I would say if snow makes a student desire to relive a misspent youth, go for it. That is your choice, the same choice you have every day of your adult life.
For a state that lives and bleeds Republican Party virtues of liberty and freedom I find it incredibly odd that it be necessary for a government agent (the FHSU administration) to decide when it is safe to drive to campus. If it is not safe, in your opinion, don’t drive to campus. If you can’t make the walk, don’t go, but for the thousands of students that live on or very near to campus, it doesn’t seem that large a challenge.
To be fair, full disclosure on this story may be required. I am in fact a FHSU student, and I live approximately a mile from campus. I also drive a Chevy Camero, and anyone that has ever driven a Camero on snow can tell you there is no worse vehicle for driving on snow. Anything over about three inches and it doesn’t move. So last week I walked to campus when it was time to be there, and I walked home when it was time to go.
I made the choice to do so, and I would have made the same choice had campus not closed on Tuesday. I am not suggesting everyone do the same, but that’s what I did. I survived it, and learned some valuable information in my courses and so am glad I did so.
I think Ted’s comment has less to do with content and more to do with embarrassingly poor writing skills on display here. The basic grammar and editing mistakes in this piece make it glaringly obvious that no one is teaching these skills. Students can’t expect to learn from their mistakes if no one is showing them their mistakes and teaching staff how to fix them. I’m not blaming you — I’m blaming the university for allowing this to happen. Students deserve a good education!
This opinion piece is an embarrassment to journalism students and, especially, alumni. Please tell me this is a mirage and that my alma mater is more interested in educating potential journalist than producing crap like this.
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