Commuter students aren’t happy Rutgers opened for classes after the blizzard
Storm Jonas vs the commuters
Clearly, the blizzard of 2016 didn’t think commuters had it rough enough. Now, commuters are really salty — saltier than the ground they drive on, unfortunately.
New Brunswick public schools closed and other Universities delayed classes, but Rutgers only warned of a possible delay in activities, to everyone’s disappointment.
Now some students are sounding off in letters of complaint to President Barchi for opening for classes when New Brunswick was still covered in snow.
Junior commuter Pravallika Soma remembered her Monday commute as “terrible”.
She said: “Like if you can’t fucking plow the snow, then please cancel class.”
Maybe on-campus folk went so hard to try to rally support for a snow day or two, but from the pictures on social media alone, it doesn’t seem the commute was an easy ride.
People have posted pictures of a car flipped over near campus, a white car so covered in snow that it was practically invisible and endless snap stories of unplowed roads along with threats of suing.
Even pedestrians struggled after we were hit with almost 30 inches of snow and slush.
Rutgers student Emma Florentine took matters into her own hands and sent an email to Barchi saying that Rutgers should have considered student safety before deciding to keep school open, especially for those with disabilities.
In her email, Emma said: “I had the experience of the snow first hand and nearly fell a few times on the way to class. I am fortunate that I have the ability to walk and say, but not all Rutgers students are fortunate enough to have these abilities.”
Florentine told The Tab she received the following response, where the university promised that despite two feet of snow, they had hundreds working to clear the roads and sidewalks.
But while the university urged students to use caution and make an informed decision about whether to attend class, Monday was still no big deal for some.
“I saw people bitching bout the sidewalks,” one commuter said. “It was over 2 feet of snow, at least they made paths to walk.”
In the same positive light, quite a few professors cancelled class and some commutes amounted to nothing more than a 15-minute delay.
But yes, the struggle has been real. Until the sun finishes off the job that should have been done by a snowcrew, we’ll all just ride the struggle bus together.