Editorial : SU unnecessarily cancels afternoon classes, but gives students more time to study

Monday’s snow day provided students in the thick of midterm season with a chance to study a little more and, in some cases, step into midterms week a little more rested. But Monday undoubtedly gave many other students one more day to procrastinate, go sledding or drink.

Coming out of two weeks of relatively mild weather and with most of the season’s snow gone from the sidewalks and lawns, the heavy snowfall surprised many Syracuse University students optimistic about the recent inklings of spring. With that and terrible road conditions Monday morning, SU made the right decision by canceling Monday morning classes; however, SU unnecessarily cut afternoon classes.

Poor cleanup of the city streets put buses behind schedule. Even by 10 a.m., city and side roads sat buried under a messy coating of snow. Though students can trudge through the knee-high snow to campus, SU rightly canceled morning classes for the hundreds of professors who would have otherwise had a hazardous and slow commute to work — better to cancel Monday morning midterms entirely than risk cutting them short or have them partially attended.

But SU prematurely canceled afternoon classes, with less than 14 inches of snow recorded for the day and sunny, above-freezing temperatures expected for the afternoon. The snow day also seems oddly placed, given classes continued amid massive snowfall before finals week in December.

Some of us, including most students who were freed from trekking to campus, found few complaints in the unexpected day off. But for many others, the full snow day put them further behind, complicated exam schedules and confused essay due dates.