High spirits typically characterize the start of the new academic year. This year it was high temperatures. After breezing through syllabus week, the campus-wide optimism of the new semester was quickly undone by a vicious heat wave. Temperatures peaked into the 90s and humidity reached top percentiles.
With a wide majority of buildings lacking adequate air conditioning, the St. Lawrence community suffered through the first full week of classes. “I’ve never seen a heat wave like that,” said Matt Thibault ’19, a long-time North Country resident. “I’ve seen some strange winters but never 90-something degrees in September.” In an attempt to cool off, many students fled to the Grasse River. For the more academically driven, it was off to ODY, one of the few campus locations offering sufficient refuge from the hot weather. Residents of Kirk Douglas Hall appeared cheerful and content to be back on campus.
Struggling to endure the heat, professors requested in advance that students not make any snickering comments about their pit stains. Some even decided to cancel class completely. “In Germany, there is the concept ‘Hitzefrei’ which describes the humane practice of letting students leave for the day if inside temperatures climb above 77 degrees,” Film Studies Professor Brook Henkel wrote to his class. “That will easily be the case in Carnegie 10 at 12:50pm.” Students taking FILM-251, History of Cinema, were pleased to hear they had the afternoon off.
“We were definitely watching the weather predictions closely during the recent heat wave,” said Stacey Olney LaPierre, Senior Associate Director of Residence Life. “It appeared that some students were handling the heat by sleeping outside in hammocks, which seemed to be a very St. Lawrence response to us!” LaPierre additionally mentioned the possibility of opening the Winston Room to students during future heat waves, as the Student Center is another air-conditioned building on campus.
Perhaps the only Laurentians unfazed by the heat wave were the incoming Freshman Class of 2022, who rejoiced in the weather for providing a discussion topic for small talk at painfully awkward orientation events.