“Snowless Snow Day”
by: Nick Powers & Gillian Ball
On Tuesday night, February 9, 2010, students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst helped to increase the Weather Channel’s ratings. A winter storm was predicted to sweep across western Mass into Wednesday, and since with snow come snow days, students were tuned in with their fingers crossed, hoping for the snow to stick to the ground. Wednesday morning arrived, and although the streets, windshields and tree branches were bare, the campus was closed for the day. At UMass, a snow day came without the snow.
It is presumable that a large majority of students of any age would welcome a break from classes. However, different opinions on the no-snow snow day have surfaced. The new Recreation Center constantly has students, faculty and others piling in and out of its doors at all hours from open to close. For those who frequent the gym every day, the snow day proved to be more of a nuisance than a welcomed break, since the Center was not excluded from the campus closing. The views expressed are all the same—the Rec Center being closed with absolutely no snow falling was unacceptable.
On the other side, homework assignments and tests had been scheduled for Wednesday, February 10. The cancellation of classes forced those assignments and tests to be pushed back to a later date, which allowed for another 24 hours of study time. One student took part of the day to rest in front of the television, and then buckled down to review the material he should have already reviewed. With the extra study time on account of the delayed test, he was able to perform better than he otherwise would have. Others, on the other hand, did not take full academic advantage of the free day.
Of those interviewed, one male student admitted to using the snow day as “an excuse to drink.” After already sleeping through his alarm, seeing those precious words “the UMass campus will be closed today,” caused both a sigh of relief and the crack of a beer can tab. He continued to say that in addition to consuming alcohol, he lounged around playing video games the majority of the day, avoiding devoting time to school work. Had there not been a snow day, although he may have missed class, he would not have spent his day drinking. Yet because of the free day, any concern for assignments or work Thursday, the next day, went out the window.
Students were not the only ones affected by the no-snow snow day. Faculty members were also given the day off. Professor Brian McDermott was pleased to discover that the campus was closed, as he described it as “finding a $20 bill in the parking lot,” exciting but undeserved. Like the students, his schedule was also pushed back a day. Yet McDermott took the day to catch up on some work without worrying about any scheduling conflicts.
What was anticipated to be a day of dangerous wintry mix, ended up being a free day for UMass students and faculty alike. Yet what was done with that free time varied from person to person, as did reactions to the closing.
