September 11,1996
2 Campus Opinion
From the editor...
The 101.5 FM deejay s voice cane
over the speakers loud and clear “N.C,
State, closed. St. Augustine’s, closed.
St. Mary’s College, closed. Wake
County Public Schools, closed..." As 1
listened, 1 sat close by the radio, posi
tive that the next words out of his
mouth would be “Meredith College."
Wrong. Unfortunately, there was no
mention of Meredith.
Strange, I thought. Wasn’t this the
same administration that canceled
classes during January’s snow storm,
helping countless students avoid ac
cident and injury? Wasn’t it the same
administration that had the foresight
to cancel last Friday’s classes before
any other school when it seemed
Fran might get rowdy on Raleigh? It
didn’t make sense that Meredith’s
decision-makers would ruin their im
peccable track record by asking stu
dents to come to school the Monday
after the hurricane.
It struck me that perhaps the ad
ministration failed to take a few facts
into consideration when they made the
decision to hold class Monday. First, the
roads were bad, and that may be the
understatement of the decade. Fallen
trees, mammoth puddles and intersec
tions sans traffic lights all served to make
Raleigh roads dangerous at best, and
impassable at worst. Please remember
commuters make up about 53% of
Meredith s population and, by having
class, the administration risked those
students’ safety, I think I read some
where that Meredith prides itself on
keeping its students safe, but apparently
that only applies to resident students.
Second, I want to remind Meredith’s
people in high places that Wake County,
in addition to 33 other North Carolina
counties, was declared a federal disaster
area. Houses, cars and property were
destroyed. 1 don’t think that those who
spent their weekends cutting trees out
of cars and bailing water out of bed
rooms felt up to coming to class Monday
morning. Some hadn’t had power or
water for three days, yet they were ex
pected to come to class?
Last, it makes sense to pay atten
tion to what surrounding schools are
doing. Isn’t there probably a reason
whyState.St.Maiy’sandSt. Augustine’s
canceled classes? Their students live in
the same apartments and neighbor
hoods as Meredith’s and had to deal
with the same destruction to roads and
private property.
Since 1 had everything figured out,
I thought I’d spread my knowledge to
the administration. I called Dr. Weems
at home Sunday afternoon and left a
message on his machine, but he never
called me back. Monday I tried both
Chuck Taylor, director of Business and
Finance, and Dr. Weems in their of
fices. Unfortunately, neither was avail
able, so I’ll say it right here—Meredith
studentsare not like the postal service.
We can’t keep going in wind or rain,
sleet or snow. Please keep this in mind
the next time Raleigh bears the brunt
of a natural disaster.
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Poteat's ground floor received the worst of Fran's flooding, Studeiii.s used
hallway.