The temperature may be dropping, but classes at Lipscomb are still hopping. Despite the snow and ice interruptions of the past two months – including the storm forecast to slam into Nashville today and tonight — Lipscomb rarely cancels classes and does not have an official snow policy.
Instead, individual class cancellations are decided by professors. Some student say that no classes should be held if the conditions outside are hazardous. Some teachers may be able to tough out the storm, but the icy roads and dangerous precipitation may give some commuters a more difficult time.
Students may have to choose whether to drive in hazardous conditions or risk falling behind in class. But, according to one top faculty member, there is no reason for students to risk harm.
“Don’t put yourself in any danger,” said Steve Prewitt, literature professor and associate provost for Academic Affairs. “If you live off-campus, you should not try to get to my class if you don’t like driving on snow or ice or if you don’t feel confident.”
In the faculty handbook, faculty members are given several methods of recapturing the material for students who are unable to make it to class.
With all the different outlets of technology available to faculty and students, conveying information to students should not be a problem. However, the amount of faculty using these outlets is unknown.
(Take our survey and let Lipscomb know about effective communication between professors and students.)
When a snowstorm hits suddenly, communication has to be done in haste. Emails notifying students about class cancellations are usually sent the morning-of, which can cause much confusion for students.
At this time, there is no other way to communicate to students about class cancelations besides e-mail. Maybe there will be a better outlet to communicate in the future? (Share your opinion in our class disruption survey.)
An additional action Lipscomb takes in making students aware is posting the Class Disruption Policy on the homepage of Lipscomb’s website whenever weather forecasts start to look treacherous.
Sixty percent of students live on campus, which means 40 percent of undergraduate students commute to school. If you do travel to school, the best policy to go by when deciding whether or not to make the journey to school through the ice and snow is awareness.
As of now, there have not been any complaints about the policy addressed to the administration.