Huge mounds of snow, slippery walkways and limited parking sports were some of the things students found at Stony Brook University as all classes and campus activities resumed this Tuesday, Feb.12 – four days after a massive blizzard dumped more than 2 feet of snow in many areas of the Northeast.
The parking lot between the Stony Brook Union and the Student Health Center was filled with snow and plow trucks today as drivers struggled to find a spot and walk safely to class.
Jason Lin, a senior business major who commutes from Holbrook, said classes should not have resumed today as many roads still haven’t been plowed and are dangerous to drive.
“It was hard to get out my street,” Lin said. “It took me 40 minutes to get here.”
Stony Brook’s Office of Emergency Management announced the decision of resuming classes in an e-mail sent to the campus community on Monday, where it said professors should not penalize students who missed classes.
“Faculty are asked to make every possible accommodation for students impacted by the snowstorm, including not penalizing students for missed class time,” EOM’s Director Lawrence M. Zacarese said in the e-mail.
Several students took to social media Monday night, however, to complain about the decision on the university’s official Facebook page, where some students and parents said their streets were still icy and that not all professors would accommodate them if they had to miss classes.
Joseph Byun, a junior engineering who commutes from East Setauket, said local roads were “still dangerous” as of Tuesday afternoon. Byun was finally able to dig his car out of the snow, but two of his roommates, he said, could not get their cars out and decided to stay home.
The blizzard, which dropped 28 inches of snow in Stony Brook, forced the university to close the Kelly Dining Center due to damage to the roof and building exterior, according to Campus Dining Services.
