Megan Reed, Campus Carrier News Editor
Provost Kathy Richardson said the decision was made to resume classes because the weather conditions were deemed safe enough for the school to open. She said the choice of whether to hold classes in inclement weather situations is a “collaborative process.”
Berry officials, including dean of students Debbie Heida, vice president for finance Brian Erb, chief of staff Whit Whitaker, physical plant director Mark Hopkins, assistant vice president of campus police and emergency management Gary Will and Richardson herself, discuss the decision to ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff.
Richardson said that because Berry is a private school, it is not required to have students make up school days missed for inclement weather. However, a decision will be announced soon about possible makeup days.
“We will take some actions to help faculty and students have some time to meet,” Richardson said. “We haven’t had time yet to decide what those will be, but we should be announcing those soon.”
Some students disapproved of the decision to hold classes despite the weather.
Students, faculty and staff received email and text message alerts shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday that classes had been delayed for that day. Senior Sam Andereck said notification should have been sent earlier.
“It just came across as really unprofessional,” Andereck said. “Some professors live up to an hour or hour and a half away…not everyone is on campus.”
However, Andereck said the weather conditions at 12:30 p.m. were safe enough for classes to be in session.
Junior Emily Burkhalter, a commuter, said road conditions should have been considered for the roads not only on campus and in Rome but for an hour radius surrounding Berry.
“People commute from all the way around,” Burkhalter said.
Andereck said Berry should have considered recommendations of local and state governments and the closure of other schools in Rome.
“The Georgia Department of Transportation specifically asked people to remain off the roads,” Andereck said. “Even though it was all supposed to melt (Thursday), there were still places without power.”
Floyd County schools, Georgia Highlands College and Shorter University were all closed on Thursday. According to the Rome News-Tribune, 2,600 Floyd County residents were still without power Thursday.
