Syracuse is well known for its harsh, freezing cold weather. Us students are used to expecting an average day to have a temperature of roughly 20 degrees, with maybe a few inches of snow on the ground. If our friends from home are complaining about 2 inches of snow with temperatures of around 40 degrees, we simply laugh in their faces because we know that they wouldn't survive one day in snowy Syracuse.
But sometimes, enough is enough, and we can't even tolerate some of the harsh weather we get. Because in all honesty, it's not humanly possible for anyone to go through that. Not only are the temperatures able to get to way below freezing due to the fast winds, but Syracuse consists of steep hills on almost every part of campus where many students live in dorms. And this itself is extremely dangerous, because then students are more prone to many accidents due to ice and winds.
Because Syracuse is so used to getting this type of weather, it's very rare that the University would give students the day off for a snow day. However, when the weather is this bad for anyone to be outside, we shouldn't be forced to walk around campus in danger of slipping and seriously injuring ourselves.
Instead, us students deserve a day off to catch up on all of the work that we have, catch up on sleep and focus on our mental health, and stay warm under our cozy blankets in our dorms and apartments. Having a snow day helps us out so much more than professors realize, because it gives us more time to sit down and focus rather than worry about making it to class on time in the middle of a blizzard. If the roads are already considered too unsafe to drive on, then why are we forced to walk up these hills and sidewalks that have barely been salted down or taken care of? Even when Syracuse is only expecting a couple inches of snow, I see at least five other people slipping and falling on their way to class, especially on our new promenade, which is the main walkway for most students to get to wherever they need to go on campus.
Worried about us missing important information in class? Blackboard and student emails do exist for a reason. If professors don't want to waste a full day of skipping out on crucial course materials due to a snow day, they can easily post lecture slides, homework, or other information in the class' homepage on Blackboard, where we can easily access everything there in our own dorm rooms. And if *those* professors who are strongly against Blackboard are also worried about this, they can easily send the class an email with the materials they want us to use for that day.
I'm not trying to argue that every time it snows in Syracuse that the entire campus should be given a snow day, because let's face it: if that were the case, then we'd be having at least one snow day per week in the winter. But when the weather app is saying that temperatures are going to be below freezing, such as -30, we should be allowed to have a break and stay safe inside instead of putting ourselves in danger. Plus, we've barely had any snow days as it is, with only three in the University's history, so another one won't seriously affect nor hurt the rest of the year's academic schedule.
If Syracuse University truly wants what's best for the safety of the entire student body, then they should seriously consider allowing us at least one or two snow days when there is a winter storm coming through with below freezing temperatures.
