Winter Weather Causes Dangerous Conditions

When Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow and predicted an early spring, St. Lawrence students could not help but feel a sigh of relief.

There was hope in the horizon for a spring that consisted of frisbee on the quad and maybe a warm walk to the river. A warm spring that didn’t consist of ice storms until graduation or the constant avoidance of puddles on the way to class. However, little did we know that spring would come Monday morning, Feb. 4, but with mixed emotions.

Winter weather is a part of living in the North Country. Many SLU students have accepted it, and day in and day out we expect the unexpected. But when temperatures rise, causing snow to melt onto the roads, mixed with freezing rain, it not only makes for a slippery walk to class, but it delays faculty from driving to campus, causes gutters to freeze yet leak and makes for musty parkas.

Paths across campus were deceiving, looking clear from far away, and then, once encountered, were too deep to even tiptoe across. And once students and faculty beat the slush obstacle, it was time to face the icy steps by the Student Center, or better yet, Richardson Hall.

Campus was like the well-known television show, “Wipeout,” where getting to the finish line (your destination) took time to mentally strategize, ruining your tennis sneakers, and officially causing you to roll in late to your ten-person seminar.

Emily Sullivan ’19, who hails from Pittsford, N.Y., has been accustomed to the unpredictable harsh winters of New York state for some time now. Living in the townhouses makes for a bit of a longer walk than most, but especially so when the university forgets to tend to the sidewalks, forgetting to make sure it’s safe and accessible for all students.

Sullivan stated, “I fell the other day walking to the gym from the townhouses in the mid-morning. I feel as though the townhouses lacked extra salt, making it such a maze to get out of.”

Emma Levy ’19 had troubles finding a parking spot. “Because of the melting snow and clumps of ice, spots were limited and very narrow. So much so, that I ended up hitting a pole and breaking my side mirror because the spot was so tight,” Levy said.

But the slush and ice wasn’t just affecting students across campus. Professors left and right delayed or cancelled class Monday morning due to the weather, which made it difficult for them to commute. And while facilities did their best to plow and salt the parking lots and sidewalks, the ice and puddles still conquered.

A maintenance worker who helps out at one of the Greek houses, spent most of Monday afternoon breaking up an ice dam in the gutter. “The gutter was all iced over and caused a water leak into the room closest. But the only way for me to break it up was to just pick away at the frozen gutter,” he said.

Luckily, despite the inconveniences the weather caused around campus, no one was injured. However, it is important that when weather like this comes around, campus must be accessible for the community, and students are to be extra cautious.

With that being said, stay safe out there!