By Jared Bileski //Students at Hood College are concerned about the college’s policies toward snowstorms. Students living on campus are not as affected, but commuter and off campus housing residents are most certainly affected when the white stuff hits.
“Sometimes the drive to campus just doesn’t feel safe,” says junior Jack Zuckerberg. “With the amount of snow we’ve had this winter I get concerned.”
Zuckerberg is a resident at the sunset apartments, part of Hood’s off campus housing. Many residents there have cited issues with the parking situation at the complex, and the roads leading to campus. “Compared to the campus snow clearing, it’s night and day,” noted Zuckerberg.
The first major snowfall this semester on Feb. 17 was met with a two hour delay, and then a decision to close the school. Many students took to social media platform Yik-Yak to voice their displeasure with the lack of immediate cancellation.
“I had to dig two feet of snow away from my back bumper after the last storm” said Hood Junior Tucker Palmer. Students have been very skeptical as to how Hood decides to close the school and what those criteria are.
Many have speculated that Hood is being overly cautious after having too many snow days in early 2014. Hood’s inclement weather policy states “the College makes every effort to remain open at all times.” However, many students’ ideas of weather safe to stay open in differs from the campus safety definition.
Commuter students seem to be getting the brunt of the problems, as they are the ones who have to face road conditions.
This year, the Frederick County Government has changed the way the roads are plowed. The website says, “Due to budget concerns … we are changing the way we plow roads. We will plow 2 lanes on all roads so that cars may pass. We will not be clearing curb-to-curb as we have done in the past seasons.”
This is has sparked concern in some commuter students who drive every day. Some have found that 7th Street is better to use to reach Hood than Rosemont Ave. “It’s always easier to get to, and less snowy” said commuter student Evan Clough.
Frederick County’s Priority County Roads Map notes that “Emergency Service Access” is a top priority for snow clearing. This suggests that 7th street and roads leading to Frederick Memorial Hospital would be cleared first, benefitting traffic bound for Hood.
Hood’s Director of Facilities John Wichser says that on campus, he “felt [Hood Facilities workers] did a good job at clearing pathways on time.” The campus facilities team works to clear snow on campus, which only helps resident students.
Students agree. “For the time it too clear all of that snow, I was impressed,” said Junior Tai Foster. “Campus was easy to get around after storms – it was never an issue.”
Dealing with more snowfall than usual can be difficult for cities on the east coast, some of which only get no more than a week or two of heavy winter weather. Better snow removal equipment costs money to maintain, and is expensive to keep if it will only be used for one month.