Walking on campus in the past week or two required the skills of an Olympic skater, but no more. The sheet of ice covering the sidewalk has finally melted away thanks to natural sunlight, and no thanks to campus regulations.
According to an email sent by SVSU Housing, students must “walk like a ‘penguin’ for safety on snow/ice areas.” First of all, what does that mean and how is that a better statement than “walk slowly and cautiously”? It seems housing is trying to make fun of the situation instead of taking safety seriously.
It’s not a funny situation to fall on ice right before the first day of a class. In fact, it’s an incredibly dangerous situation. According to Rothman Orthopedic Institute, the risks of falling on ice include muscles sprains, compression fractures, broken bones, herniated discs and concussions.
According to SVSU housing, “frostbite can occur during with dangerous wind chills within 10 minutes.” Consider the time it takes to get to class from Pine Grove or the UVs: about 6-8 minutes to get inside a building on a good day. Now, factor in the time it takes to get inside a building when “walking like a penguin.” Surely, it would take more than 10 minutes to get inside, creating a risk.
To some degree, the main campus was taken care of. There were paths to follow cleared of ice; however, the sidewalks by the living centers, the UVs and the Ryder Center were completely unwalkable. Campus had the resources to clear ice, but they drew the line at where their students pay to live. According to the email, “residential areas will be services as soon as possible.” It never happened.
Salt buckets were provided for MJB and the Living Centers “for any community efforts.” Although, I don’t know many college students who have the free time to provide unpaid labor taking care of the property they don’t own. It’s a homeowners responsibility to take care of their sidewalks and land, but a renter has no business in maintaining the lawn of an apartment building they share.
SVSU winters create conditions harsher than a regular Michigan winter. It’s not just the sidewalks that are dangerous, but the roads and parking lots are an immense hazard. It’s understandable the parking lots can’t be plowed perfectly with cars parked 24/7, but there’s no excuse for the exits of the lots to be a thick sheet of snow and ice left untouched.
College students tend to be in accidents. According to Zanes Law, car crashes hurt college-aged students and are the biggest risk for their health. On campus, no one should be driving fast enough to cause a lot of harm, but the fact stands that campus roads are slippery especially in the parking lots. Not only are the parking lots terribly designed in some places (for example, in the UVs where drivers can’t see oncoming traffic through curves), but the ice adds a risk factor.
Not to mention, drivers themselves might not be physically harmed when slipping on ice in the parking lots here and there, but what if damage is sustained by the car? A lot of college students struggle financially because their focus is on full-time classes, not a full-time job. To put them at risk of collisions in the parking lots when they pay for these accommodations is absurd.
Housing and parking services need to do better for their students.
