There is a common gag that schools never cancel for a blizzard, but will cancel for a few snow flurries. However, winter school cancellations are not just about snow. They can be for ice, downed heaters in buildings and temperature, reasons some commuter students said should have led Saint Louis University to close Tuesday and Wednesday.

Since Sunday night, the St. Louis region has been under different winter weather advisories for the risks of snow and bitter temperatures.

On Tuesday morning, the St. Louis Metropolitan area received less than an inch of powdery snow. By the afternoon, the natural temperature was a high of 15 degrees and a low of nine degrees. But the windchill, similar to the “feels like” temperature, was negative four degrees. 

How can these cold temperatures put students, faculty and staff in danger?

According to U.S. News, 46% of SLU students live off campus and commute for classes. That is about 6,476 students, graduate and undergraduate. An updated advisory message from the National Weather Service – St. Louis (NWS) at 3:18 p.m., specifically stated that “Travel could be very difficult… Hazardous conditions could impact the Tuesday morning and evening commutes.”

The risks that these winter weather conditions can pose are health hazards such as frostbite and hypothermia; driving hazards such as reduced reaction time and car battery/engine failure; and public transportation delays, cancellations and more. 

Caitlyn Borst, a junior commuter student said she struggled with the decision to stay home or commute when she woke up to snow on Tuesday. 

“On days with inclement weather such as today [Tuesday], I find it quite challenging as a commuter to decide whether or not I risk my safety by driving to class,” Borst said. “As someone who has previously had an accident in snow/icy road conditions, I take my safety very seriously in these situations.”

Without a university-wide closure, some professors have taken it upon themselves to cancel classes to keep their students and themselves safe. 

A University News Instagram poll asking “Did your professor cancel class?” got 503 votes: yes, 64; no, 181; some, 180; online, 78. A second University News poll asked “Should classes have been canceled?” received 501 responses: yes, 373; no, 62; indifferent, 66. 

For classes that still met in person, students faced the difficult decision to come to class or stay home for their safety. Some students like Borst also had to weigh their options of taking a loss in attendance points or risking their safety to get to class. 

“As someone who holds a high academic standard, this question can be very challenging to answer and leaves me with a headache,” said Borst. “I believe some of my professors may think that I’m using the weather as an excuse to get out of class, but that simply isn’t true and frustrates me.”

On Tuesday, students also took to YikYak, the anonymous discussion threads app, to post their grievances about the university not closing. 

One user parodied SLU’s motto by saying “‘Caring for the whole person’ while my whole person is pushing cars out of the snow right now.”

Some users posted similar messages throwing SLU’s “serving the greater good” back at the university. Others complained about the university’s and specific professors’ attendance policies. 

“When this happens, I feel a lot of pressure in needing to attend,” said Borst.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials urged St. Louis drivers to get home early and stay off of the roads. 

Another user wrote, “This is f**king unbelievable. I commute roughly 40 minutes. The highways are terrible, side roads even worse. I made it… but I still had several close calls. Just unacceptable.”

Junior Brady Loehr had a similar experience on his Tuesday morning commute. 

“As soon as I get into the city, the quality of the roads decreases tremendously as they are slippery and unsafe,” said Loehr. 

Chuck Graves, an earth and atmospheric science professor, said last October that the biggest flaw in SLU’s weather preparations is pre-event planning. He said there is not enough communication between the department of public safety and students before severe weather strikes. 

“SLU is reactive rather than proactive,” Graves said. “The most important piece is an established line of communication. But since we are getting a lot more impactful weather events, the need to communicate that to faculty, staff and students becomes essential.”

A user asked on YikYak “Why is the office of the Dean of Students closed, but we still have class?”

To confirm this, The University News called the office, and no one picked up. 

Loehr shared some of his thoughts about how SLU can do better in times of inclement weather.

“I would like to see a bit more consideration when it comes to the thousands of students that commute every day,” Loehr said. “Especially since I know there are people who have it a lot worse than me.”

Borst shared a similar sentiment saying “SLU could help commuters by implementing a plan where if conditions are favorable for hazardous weather, they can have a campus-wide virtual learning day.”

This would keep anyone who travels to campus safe from dangerous roads and allow for learning to continue, Borst said.

Additional snowfall hit the St. Louis region late Tuesday night and early morning Wednesday, Feb. 19 with no communication from the university about class cancellations for today.