University Park Proves Money is More Important

The northeastern side of the US has been stricken by a pretty significant ice and snow storm over the last few days. The biggest portion of this storm is the ice. Sidewalks and roads everywhere are frozen over completely, creating a dangerous sheet of ice for everyone to walk and drive on. Clearly not what favorable conditions.

Enter Penn State University. Known for nearly never cancelling classes at their main campus, in the last 8 years it has only happened twice, Penn State refused to close down today, despite the still very icy cobditions that can be found on the campus. Sheets of ice still cover many of the roads and sidewalks, creating a huge hazard for anyone who is going to class. One must ask why? Nearly all of the branch campuses had either a delay or were closed today. Many other Big 10 schools were also closed today. Yet Penn State remains open.

The reason, as can be expected, is money. The university will lose too much money, so they claim, to close down for a day. I have often pondered this, as I always found it difficult to understand exactly how they are losing money. Unless there are some other factors and costs that i do not see, what do they pay for on a "snow day" that they dont pay for normally? Whether or not classes take place that day, professors still get paid, the buildings are still heated, and snow/ice removal will still take place. If anything, they would save money because classes would not be consuming energy. Lights would be off in the classrooms, computers remaining in sleepmode, and projectors powered off.

What does the university stand to lose by closing? Not much in my own opinion, in fact they could possibly save some money. What do they stand to lose by remaining open? A lot of money in lawsuits. I personally have fallen twice now, one of those times while wearing slip resistant footwear. While i was lucky to not be injured, many students have been reporting falls, and threatening with lawsuits if they are seriously injured. Worse still, if the roads off campus are as bad as they are on campus, accidents can be expected to occur. Even driving slowly, you will slide if you hit ice, and what happens if a car slides into someone walking to class and causes serious injury, or even kills them? How about if a serious collision occurs, and one of those involved is killed? is this a good trade off?

I say no. The risks outweight any benefit that can be thought of. The university is showing gross negligence toward student and faculty safety by their decisions today. I can only hope nothing serious happens today, as it would be a shame for someone else to have to suffer from the decisions of those in charge of Penn State University.

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