During the cold months of winter, McDaniel students wake up each day and check their emails and social media in hopes that school will be cancelled or at least delayed until 10 a.m. Whenever a delay actually does happen, most people complain about having to walk the 50 feet of sidewalk to their classrooms, but do they ever stop to think about the commuters?
After talking to a few commuting students about their journeys to get to campus on days when class is delayed, it seems that the commuter population is divided in their opinion of the administration’s consideration of commuters when it comes to snow closings or delays.
One half of the commuters interviewed believe that McDaniel does not consider commuters. These are mainly students driving long distances–half an hour to an hour away from campus–or students who have to deal with rural or crowded roadways.
One commuter student states, “The past couple of snow days, McDaniel College has really disappointed me in their actions of ensuring the safety of its commuter students as well as other visitors and staff.” She continues, explaining how “the blacktop between the parking spaces [has been] cleared, but all of the actual parking spaces [were] covered with snow” thus making it difficult to find a safe parking spot.
However, opinion differs from commuter to commuter. One student states, “The 10 a.m. delayed schedule allows enough time for roads to be cleared and salted along with the sidewalks. I feel that [this] policy works well.”
Another student expresses, “I haven’t had any issues regarding the ability to drive on snow days, so in my opinion, McDaniel’s decisions to delay or close school has been right every single time. I do like, however, that commuter students are able to contact their professor if they face problems driving or if they feel it is unsafe to drive and it will count as an excused absence. This shows that McDaniel cares about the safety of their commuter students.”
The debate of whether McDaniel cares or not about its commuter community will continue as long as we have snow this winter. But one thing remains true: McDaniel will always try its best at protecting the well-being of its students, faculty, and staff members.
Though the one student is right, commuters have the opportunity to let their professors know the conditions are too bad to travel, it has been my experience that many professors do not care and do not want to help or work with those commuters who are having trouble. Some professors are understanding, but many don’t see what the problem is with getting to school if there has been a delay or some treatment to the roads. Also, many commuters who do have to travel farther do not always get delay notifications until after they have had to leave for class.