SMU’s notification system for bad weather is nothing short of ridiculous; the recent upheaval on Facebook and Twitter over the temporary opening of the campus on Thursday is a perfect illustration of this issue. Despite this backlash, the University in no way attempted to address these concerned students.
According to Provost Ludden’s Thursday morning conversation with members of The Daily Campus, SMU has approximately 10,000 commuter students, including part-time students. Given that this is such a high number, it should be clear to the powers that be that an hour and 15 minutes notice that school is closed is simply not enough.
Especially in weather like this, students need as much time as possible to make it to school on time. Ice significantly slows down travel, and for students who live half an hour or more away, an hour and 15 minutes may not even be enough time to get here.
Given that SMU can alert students at 4:15 p.m. the day before that the school is open, understanding that the temperature is not predicted to go above freezing and conditions will not change, it is not too far of a stretch to expect SMU to also be able to give more notice as to the University being closed.
Because conditions did not change from Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. to Thursday at 6:47 a.m., when the policy officially changed, one wonders what exactly prompted President Turner, Provost Ludden and the SMU Police Department to change their minds. Was it the thousands of negative responses sent via Twitter and Facebook by angry students and bewildered alumni? Perhaps.
Which leaves us to question why SMU did not address this anger at all. No response on Facebook, no response on Twitter, no response via email. Nothing. Just a short email from Ludden instructing those who commute that they can miss class if they email their professors – essentially advocating that students choose between being safe and going to class. Hey students, want to stay on track with your classes? Then risk your safety driving across the blankets of ice still lining Dallas roadways.
Even professors were unhappy with this poor notification system. If professors choose to cancel their classes, they have to take a mandatory vacation day. Why is that fair? Hey professors, want to have an adequate number of vacation days later? Then you too should risk your safety.
While SMU did move up its alert time for Friday, we wonder why this is not the norm. Conditions have been constant since this ice storm hit on Monday night. If those conditions are enough of an expected hazard to alert us early Thursday evening, then why the debacle on Wednesday?
SMU simply did a terrible job responding to the concerns of students on Wednesday. At the point where students are advocating a mass boycott of classes during schools and constant streams of Tweets are advocating the reversal of an official decision, why would the Provost, the President and the Police find that this outcry did not deserve some sort of direct response?
We feel that it illustrates a lack of concern on the part of the University for the voices of the students. Whether or not SMU’s decision to overturn its original edict was in part because of the outcry, not telling students that their concerns were respected and that the University makes it a habit of keeping these considerations in mind when making official decisions is absurd, not to mention an insult to the voices of the student body.
