The Elusive K College Snow Day

By Lisa Phillips
Sports Editor
FEATURE

Published February 2010

     It was a cold winter morning four years ago and I was trapped in the perennial morning dilemma of K students: getting up for that dreaded 8:30 a.m. class. I was cozy in bed. It was freezing outside. The last thing I wanted to do was crawl out of my nest of blankets and trudge across campus in the snow.
     Then, as I lay convincing myself of the merits of going to class, the most miraculous thing ever to happen at Kalamazoo College occurred. I heard a rather strange thumping sound outside my dorm, like a barrage of feet echoing through the hallway. That’s unusual, I thought, who in the world would have that much energy at 8 o’clock in the morning.  Suddenly, the booming voice of one of my hall mates echoed through the DeWaters 4th floor. “SNOOWWWW DAYYYYY!”
     Of course, I didn’t believe him, but a quick check of the email proved the validity of the celebration: indeed, Kalamazoo College had cancelled classes. Thus started one of the most blissful memories of my freshmen year, full of sleep, sledding, and utter enjoyment. 
     The elusive Snow Day at Kalamazoo College. So rare that it’s almost a myth.  But yet, it has happened before. Once. In the last 4 years. And I clearly remember that that snow day four years ago was because the power went out in the library, forcing the college to cancel classes.
     Classes have been cancelled this year at other colleges around the state: most recently, at the University of Michigan and at Kalamazoo Valley Community College last Monday, February 22. The Kalamazoo Public School system has cancelled school multiple times this winter. But Kalamazoo College has not.
     Usually, students assume that K’s closing policy mirrors the policy of big brother university Western Michigan’s. And generally, this may be true: both K and WMU shut down their campuses on December 10 this year (over Winter Break), but both colleges have yet to cancel classes this season due to weather. However, the simultaneous cancellation of WMU and K has not always occurred: WMU closed on February 1, 2008 due to weather, while K remained open.
     So why is Kalamazoo so reluctant to cancel classes on these frigid winter days? Partially, it’s because we don’t need to: we’re a small and tight-knit college population. The email students received earlier this year about Weather Closing Guidelines read: “Because most “K” students live on or near campus, however, the College sometimes remains open when other educational institutions—especially those with a higher commuter population—close.” It’s true, most of the college population lives within walking distance, including the seniors; we usually don’t have to dig our cars out or drive on slippery roads to make it to school.
     But, judging by the utter lack of parking on campus during the day, I would conjecture that the majority of the faculty and staff commute to campus. Then, even if students can make it to classes, why wouldn’t the college cancel classes when wintry conditions prevent faculty from getting to school? This, I believe, speaks to the academic rigor of Kalamazoo College. With the frenetic pace and academic ferocity of the quarter system, I think both faculty and staff are reluctant to cancel classes because the ramifications of a day lost are felt more on at 10-week curriculum than a 15-week one. The snow day I enjoyed during my freshmen year was indeed a day of bliss, but it certainly didn’t diminish the amount of work I had to do for my classes; professors just overloaded us for the rest of the week.
     But yet, at a college that provides buses to take us to the beach one day every Spring Quarter, it’s a shame that there isn’t a mid-winter moment of bliss for K students. This is about the time of winter quarter where students ‘burn out’; it’s cold outside, we’ve been cooped up for ages, and the cold weather coupled with the academic pace of the college ebbs away at student morale.  It’s probably unlikely that the college will cancel classes, but it’s equally unlikely that students will stop wishing for a day off.
      So, as I conclude my last winter quarter at K, is one last Snow Day too much to hope for? With winter coming (hopefully) to an end, probably.  But whenever I wake up to see a fresh blanket of snow covering the world outside, I can’t help but hope. Sometimes, just sometimes, we all need a break.