The University of Kentucky was impacted after a winter storm, having to cancel classes as a response to unsafe walking and driving conditions.

UK canceled Jan. 26 to Jan. 28 while they worked to clean the campus by plowing the parking lots and laying salt on the sidewalks to get rid of the snow and ice. UK reopened on Thursday, Jan. 29, according to the Kentucky Kernel.

With UK opening back up on Jan. 29, many students went to class and got to see firsthand how the school dealt with the weather.

Badr Alalwani, a senior neuroscience and psychology major, said he lives off campus and had difficulties walking this week.

Alalwani lives at the Midtown Apartments, about a seven-minute walk from campus, and had trouble this week because of the sidewalk conditions.

“On the sidewalks that aren’t UK’s campus, it was especially hard, especially now with the weather rising and going down, it’s becoming icy and slippery,” Alalwani said.

Alalwani is part of the UK Men’s Club Soccer Team and said the weather has had a major impact on how the team has practiced this week.

“All of our practices have been canceled, and we’ve actually moved to playing futsal, which is indoor soccer,” Alalwani said. “Just yesterday we had our first practice session. We’ve been deeply affected.”

Celia Monte, a sophomore double-majoring in criminal justice and law and justice, said her professors canceled her classes this week as they thought students would not be able to attend in person.

Monte said while she appreciates her professors canceling classes because of the weather, she believes students should’ve had Thursday off.

“I felt like they (UK) should have canceled on Thursday because I know a lot of people fell and got hurt because the sidewalks were not being cleared off or anything,” Monte said.

Monte has to drive 10 minutes to campus and walk 15 minutes to class, but Monte said she noticed a difference this week with her commute being more difficult to make.

“A bunch of people have their cars stuck, so they can’t move their cars. There’s not parking spaces. Just getting to class in general, you have to take your time because it’s kind of dangerous to walk on the ice and everything,” Monte said.

UK’s spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university worked hard to clean up the campus and allow students to attend class.

“From our continued evaluation and monitoring, Thursday and Friday went well,” Blanton said.  “Safety is our top priority and the efforts of so many people over the last several days underscore that commitment.”

Brenna Mefford, a freshman psychology major, said she did not go to any of her classes in person because they were held on Zoom this week. 

Mefford said she did not expect UK to be canceled three days in a row, because of how the university has previously operated during weather concerns.

“I was surprised, especially with how much people talk about how unlikely it is that Kentucky doesn’t really cancel classes often,” Mefford said. “I thought it was interesting, but a lot of my professors were super understanding about it, and really considered the off-campus students.”

Theodore Rutherford, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, said he appreciates UK for cleaning up the campus so students can go to class.

“I have respect for UK for actually trying to make it work, and maybe even motivating us a little bit, because I think weather makes us, especially nowadays, people can be a little soft,” Rutherford said.