Students take to social media to gripe over lack of snow day
Cars are coated in snow during Wednesday’s snow storm. Student’s were upset to find that EWU did not cancel class like Cheney Public Schools did | Mckenzie Ford for The Easterner
February 21, 2018
Dozens of school districts in the region had two hour delays at minimum on Feb. 14, including Medical Lake. Cheney Public Schools was closed, while EWU was all systems go.
The call to keep school opened was announced at 6:09 a.m. while the region was being blanketed by close to 5 inches of snow causing an upset response by students.
“It’s a horrible day to be an Eagle!” Jourdan Holubasch wrote on Twitter in response to the announcement. “You really need to think about those of us that have morning classes!”
“Wondering what it will take for EWU to consider the safety and lives of commuters above having class,” Nathan Carlson wrote. “How many roads need to be closed, how many accidents or fatalities will it take.”
Road conditions on I-90 were cause for concern, with multiple crashes including a fatal crash 20 miles west of Spokane.
EWU said in a statement, “while Eastern rarely cancel classes it does not compromise safety when making a decision about school closures during a weather event.” They went on to say the decision to cancel class or not comes at 5 a.m. after consulting Washington State Patrol, the Weather Service, the City of Cheney, Spokane Transit and EWU Police.
EWU also added, “Each individual (students/faculty/staff) should make their own decision on whether to come in or stay home based on their situation and personal safety.”
Last year WSU came under heavy fire for not cancelling school on the first day back from winter break, after two students died driving in on Highway 26 and I-90.
WSU President Dr. Eric Schultz cited the similar reasoning EWU did.
“WSU Pullman almost never closes,” said Schultz. “It is literally home to thousands of students, which makes an actual suspension of operations quite problematic.”
This is not a local issue either. Colleges all around the country tend to stay open no matter the weather. In 2012, Dave Meany told KXLY “We rarely shut down. Unlike the school districts, we can’t do make-up days.”
While more snow is expected to fall over the weekend and into Monday, students should not be surprised to see EWU will almost certainly be open.
“This is not a great day to be an eagle,” Amber Pangborn wrote on Twitter.
