A winter rant

Back-to-back "snow days" was great, but a third one could have been a blessing.

Instead, the select number of students that returned to the SIUC campus Thursday were probably cursing.

It's not as if the weather was bad, but you needed a Sherpa to navigate through campus. Ice on top of snow on top of ice on top of snow makes walking around a pain in the ass, and don't even get me started on the falling sheets of ice and snow from building ledges. The powers that be were one curious fan's question away from having to explain to my mother in Chicago why I was in the hospital because a sheet of ice from the edge of the COMM building fell on my head.

Yeah, that would not have been pretty.

A little birdie told me there was an attempt to plow during the late night hours, but after a futile try the plowers quit. So I have an idea for the SIUC administration, which fully expected its students to attend classes despite the crappy condition of campus.

When myself student puts forth an effort in the classroom and it doesn't result in a passing grade in the eyes of the teacher, it should be overruled. The student should get a passing grade despite failing to complete the assignment in a satisfactory manner.

Wait, so you're telling me that's not a good idea?

It sounds like what the university did in opening classes. They tried to clean sh*t up, quit, fell short and expected it to be business as usual. So if I make an effort and say "f*ck it, it's too hard" then I should expect to get an "A" grade.

...

Parking problems weren't limited to campus. The Carbondale public lots look as if the Winter-X Games were just played there. The streets aren't much better. Sidestreets look like a slushy suckfest and the main streets have huge piles of snow on the corners making it hard to turn.

Maybe I'm the only person that realized the only spots on streets that were cleaned out were metered spots. Way to f*ck over the tax payers. And landlords, don't think you're safe from my wrath.

Do I get a refund from my monthly parking payment because the parking area provided has not been cleaned? I probably should, but won't. Mostly because I haven't seen my landlord since I've been back.

Maybe he's nice and warm under a set of blankets somewhere as I'm sitting in my car praying I can get out without having to ask for assistance.

All in all, SIU shouldn't be complaining about losing its students. Because for two straight years, university officials have opened campus despite harsh conditions in which serious injury could take place. Nothing says caring for students that pay thousands of dollars for an education like putting them directly in harms way.

If there is any more damning quote about the disconnect between the suits and students it is this from chancellor Sam Goldman.

"Chancellor Sam Goldman said the decision to open campus came when he drove around campus with Gatton. Goldman said though conditions were not completely clear, they thought it was clear enough to resume classes."

'We were aware there would be some difficulties,' Goldman said. 'All in all, it looked like the campus should be operational. It wasn't perfect, but it was operational.'"

Nothing says "operational campus" like having to climb a mountain of snow to get to class.

Funniest quote of the day comes from Kathleen Plesko, whose name upon reading makes me think of former Atlanta Brave Ryan Klesko for some reason. I digress. Plesko (and Klesko, for that matter) said she received no complaints and was pleased with the work the Physical plant had done.

"To me, at some point you have to go and do the hard thing (and open campus.) Of course it's not going to work for everybody, but I think they've done a phenomenal job."

Other people that have done a phenomenal job in Plesko's eyes:

• Isaiah Thomas, who did a phenomenal job in building the New York Knicks into an NBA powerhouse.
• George W. Bush, who did a phenomenal job taking care of families after Hurricane Catrina.
• Rod Blagojevich, who did a phenomenal job in being a clean, controversy-free governor
  
• William Hung, a phenomenal singer
• Chris Benoit, a phenomenal father and husband

What? Too soon?

SIU opens campus despite harsh conditions. [Daily Egyptian]