Slippery sidewalks at University of Windsor

By Zander Kelly

University of Windsor students had their commute go sideways last Tuesday morning.

After Monday night’s freezing rain, all of the walkways around the University were coated in a layer of ice.

St.Clair College released an announcement that all morning classes were cancelled, and that classes would resume Tuesday afternoon. However, the University opted to stay open for the entire day.

While neither decision is wrong, there were no personnel until at least 9 a.m.. 

Samantha Mortier, co-president of the Disability Studies Student Association, said she arrived just before 8 a.m. and found a dangerous short walk to the doors.

“My thought process went to ‘okay people have broken ankles here, people have crutches. How are they going to do this?’ said Mortier. “Then my thought process went even further and it’s just like wow, there is no way someone in a wheelchair would be able to go up this ramp at all.”

Mortier also said there were many students on campus at the same time waiting for their 8:30 a.m. classes to start and she was concerned for any other students who may not be able to make their tests on time.

In response to this Computer Science student Eric Yeung started a GoFundMe petition which is currently at over 900 out of 1000 signatures. Yeung said he feels the school has a responsibility to protect students in bad conditions.

“Even though they’ve already taken our tuition, they’ve already taken our money, they should have the responsibility to at least clear it or at least have professors upload their lectures,” said Yeung. “I had one professor who actually said ‘you guys don’t have to come to class this one day I’ll just record a lecture and I’ll just read out the notes and explain it’ and she uploaded it to blackboard.”

John Coleman, the Director of Public Relations for the University said in a statement: “all bad weather scenarios present there own challenges, and we carefully assess each situation with an eye to putting the overall safety of students, staff, faculty and visitors at the forefront. That’s what happened this week. Roads were passable, city buses were running and we had staff working throughout the early morning and all day to look after pedestrian areas.”