U-W defends decision to stay open on Monday
Posted Feb 3, 2015 05:10:32 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The University of Waterloo finds itself on the defensive after deciding not to close during this week’s snow storm.
Laurier, Conestoga College and the University of Guelph all closed their campuses yesterday, as did both Waterloo Region Public and Catholic school boards.
The University of Waterloo maintains it deemed it was safe for students and staff to attend classes, pointing out most regional roads were plowed, as were campus roads, city buses were running and thousands of students live on campus.
However, several students are blasting the school.
Third-year student Melanie Garrett lives in Petersburg and refused to drive in yesterday morning.
Garrett wants the school to change its weather policy and has started a petition. At last check, it contained over 3,500 signatures.
She tells 570’s Midday with Eric Drozd people feel strongly about it and are trying to find ways to tell the university they don’t agree with these policies and they need to change.
Listen to the full interview with Melanie below:
The University of Waterloo released the following statement:
“The safety of our campus community is our primary concern, so we look at a number of factors when making a decision on whether to close the campus in severe weather.
Firstly, as we have more than 7,000 students who live on our campus, we look at whether it will be safe to move around the grounds. We are fortunate to have a dedicated grounds staff who made sure that the majority of roads and pathways were clear of snow yesterday morning.
Secondly, we want to make sure that students, faculty and staff are able to reach the University safely. If we receive advice that public transport is affected by weather conditions or if local roadways are hazardous, we would take these factors into consideration. Yesterday morning, local public transportation was operating normally and regional roadways were plowed.
In our judgment it was safe for students, staff and faculty to get to and move around the University of Waterloo.
However, we recognize that individual areas may be affected in different ways, so students, faculty and staff are reminded that they are responsible for determining when weather conditions make travel unsafe. People who choose not to come to the University when the campus is open are responsible for making alternate arrangements with their supervisor.
We monitor weather conditions on an ongoing basis and we post relevant updates to our homepage. We will post notices of closures online and on social media by 6 a.m. on the day of a closure, if a decision to close is taken. We have kept a special weather statement page up-to-date online since Environment Canada issued a special weather warning late on Sunday night and we will continue to update this page with relevant updates as the day goes on.”
Meantime, a post has appeared on BuzzFeed, poking fun at U-W with “10 Reasons The University Of Waterloo Thinks It Should Never Close For A Snow Day”
