Staff Editorial

Last week’s cold blast reminded everyone of Pittsburgh weather’s whiny disposition, with temperatures plummeting to the low teens. The Duquesne student body and faculty still bundled up and trudged its way to classes, which could have easily been switched to Zoom or other virtual instruction alternatives.

Most days this month have been below the usual average for Pittsburgh winters, according to CBS News. There is also an increase in snow from last winter as of December, according to The National Weather Service.

It really isn’t necessary to be up on the Bluff when the temperatures are so low. Faculty and students alike would appreciate the opportunity to stay warm at home and still get the same work done in a virtual setting. Who doesn’t like a good ol’ snow day?

With the advent of modern technology, the painfully cold conditions don’t mean a halt in productivity. We are all desensitized to Zoom classes from the pandemic, and are all fully capable of logging on to do a reading or watch a prerecorded video posted on Canvas. Before we had the luxury of Zoom, a hesitation to cancel school is more understandable, but nowadays, the work does not need to stop because people aren’t in the classroom, if that is what the university is concerned about.

In some cases, the cold is actually dangerous, and it can be more of a risk to student and faculty wellbeing to go to campus. With the seemingly constant onslaught of snow, the roads have been less than ideal. It seems almost as if the city was unprepared to care for the icy streets or somehow misplaced the salt they’d allotted for this winter.

For commuters — many of whom are broke college students with bad cars — the road conditions become a situation of weighing risk: crashing on the way to school or potentially having your grade affected if you choose to stay home.

As well, the frequent windchill on campus makes the temperatures feel much colder. Often the cold when walking to class is so icy it’s painful. Comfort is a large factor in the ability to give academics your all. Bearing the cold is a roadblock and a distraction. Staying home and working remotely gives people the chance to focus their attention on their actual to-do list instead of how many layers they need to wear.

The only benefit to herding students into academic buildings is if they are warmer than residence halls.

In this case, it would make sense to at least provide an optional hybrid ‘snow day’ where students could choose to have in-person instruction or Zoom in. Of course, if professors chose to stay home in this scenario, students in cold rooms might like the option to still take their Zoom classes from the academic halls or, the university could fix the residence hall heating issues.

If we look around us, the animals have it right — winter is for nesting down. Maybe we should all take a hint.