Now don’t get me wrong, I really do love Concordia. I love going to class with the most intelligent and driven of peers, visiting with the most pleasant of administrative and support staff, and spending all my free time BREWing. Acknowledging that not every day is going to be all roses and tulips, I think that for the most part we have a great campus.
However, as my title hints at, there are a few instances in which I am sorely disappointed to be associated with that fabled gold and ruby ring. I have always felt that as a Cobber I should be aware of myself, my thoughts and my actions and how they have an impact on the world around me. That is one of the reasons I love Concordia. Having learned how an individual can make a change, I recycle more, stay current on events, listen to social issues developing, etc, and there is a whole student body that would probably agree with me. For this reason, I am sometimes shocked at the seemingly lack of concern with which the professional leaders of this college act. It was like they thought all the snow on Monday, February 11 would magically disappear at 11 a.m. and all the robins were going to fly north to sing us back to class.
Yes, I do admit that those who make decisions about snow days are not as delusional as I imply. It just was screamingly obvious to those who were trudging back and forth late that Sunday and early Monday that it would be completely silly–to use a the politest word possible–to even ponder holding campus functions on Monday. Granted, I do not know all the intangibles that go into making such a tough decision, and I am glad that it is not mine to make. There must be immense pressure and stress on having to call off a day class. It would be unwise of me to assume that there were not innumerable factors going into that call. This is not why I am disheartened by Concordia.
I am dissatisfied, to use another overly polite term, because those in power appeared to forget about the most important part. That is namely, they apparently forgot about how their decisions would affect people and their safety. Did they not think that driving across town in 10 inches of snow would be dangerous? Was it not obvious that there would have been undue stress caused on those who were trying to traverse those snow covered paths? Were the possibilities of extra hindrances on the city snow removal by unnecessary vehicles in the streets not obvious? My list of grievances against the decisions to post-pone class until 11 is very long, so I will truncate it. My point is that it was unwise to risk the wellbeing of support staff, many of whom we drastically under pay and under appreciate as it is, by telling them to come to campus. This is not even considering the stress caused on off campus students by not being clear with them about the plan for Monday.
It is just frustrating knowing that this mishandling of this weekend’s Blizzard is out of character for our campus. One can recall how the campus closed down early before a Thanksgiving break to give students a day to travel before a storm came. Imagine that, a day without class because people had a chance of getting stuck in the snow. What a wonderfully wise choice that should be often emulated. As one who loves this campus and truly wants it be reach its fullest potential, I just wish there was a way to better understand how those people make those calls so that students and staff can help make better ones. Tell us why you make the decisions you do, for example, why our tuition is being raised. I would like to know where my money is going. There are a whole host of issues that those in the know should share what they know with those that don’t. Pointedly, don’t treat students as if they aren’t worthy of that information. It just feels to me that as a student, I am not supposed to what really going on until it has already happened. Reminds me of that email I got at 1130 saying that campus would be closed all day and not just at 11. Perhaps, in the perfect future there would be true dialogue and introspection among those who populate our campus; like we are all under the illusion actually happens. Maybe then those across 8th street might truly be jealous of us as opposed to us just joking they are.
This letter was submitted by Tony Sang, Concordia class of 2014.
