Canceling classes should be smoother
February 4, 2014
Canceling class is not a decision to be made lightly. Until Monday, UK hadn’t made it in more than five years.
There’s a reason for such a gap and it’s a good one. UK is not an elementary school; it’s the flagship university of the Bluegrass and it relies on classes being in session in order to keep a schedule that affects thousands of people’s professional lives.
But sometimes the best way to survive a storm isn’t to fight it, it’s to hunker down and stay inside.
Monday was one of those days, and UK took too long to realize that. President Eli Capilouto waited until 9:30 a.m. to cancel classes, about four and a half hours after the decision was made to delay until 10 a.m., and five and a half hours since UK employees had been clearing the sidewalks and roadways of campus.
The weather was tricky Monday morning, and the snow kept falling well after 7 a.m., when some forecasts said it would stop.
“Weather in this region is often fluid. It changes,” said UK spokesman Jay Blanton in an email to the Kernel. “That’s what happened here. We continued to monitor the weather, reviewing the available models. As it changes, or when it changes, we have to be flexible in our decision-making process. It’s why our weather, safety and facility officials meet and communicate often in and around a weather event.”
There’s no question that university officials worked hard and long to make campus safe, or that administrators have student safety and interest in mind in these situations.
And while there’s also no question that Kentucky weather can keep even veteran residents on their toes, there is no excuse for the university to do the same to students and staff about class cancelations.
Frankly, 9:30 a.m. is too late to cancel. Administrators knew about the weather being “fluid,” and they knew that they were having trouble making roads safe — and so was the city of Lexington — but they waited anyway. For students who have class at 10 a.m. and don’t live on campus, 30 minutes is not enough time to plan accordingly, especially if they’ve already left home.
