Last updated on February 1, 2016
Vol State Shutdown
By Blake Bouza, Assistant Editor
Volunteer State Community College faced shutdowns due to inclement weather during its first week of the spring 2016 semester.
On Monday, Jan. 18, Vol State campuses were closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. On Tuesday, Jan. 19, classes began as usual before weather forced administration to close all together on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Jan. 20, the Vol State Facebook page wrote, “the Drop/Add period has been extended until the end of the day Monday, January 25. So, students will be able to do regular online registration themselves.”
The Facebook page went on to write that students would not have to take a signed drop/add form to Records (Ramer Administration Building, room 183) through Monday.
The page encouraged students with questions to visit the Advising Center.
Earlier that same day, the Facebook page advised students to double check their Vol State portal for any makeup work professors may have assigned because of the missed class time.
The Vol State blog (volunteerstatecommunitycollege.blogspot.com) explained the difference between delays and cancellations.
“A delay means that classes start at that hour. If we say delayed until 10am, that means only classes that would be meeting at 10am or later will be meeting. Classes before that are canceled,” wrote the blog.
It continued by noting this method is done because classes can begin at different times and different lengths, be it a lab or a three-hour class.
“If you have a three-hour class starting at 8am and there is a delay until 10am – your class will meet starting at 10am,” the blog wrote.
Visit the Vol State blog for up-to-date coverage of school closings, delays and events, as well as their Facebook page and Twitter account.
In reference to why northern states seem better equipped to deal with winter weather than southern states, Susannah Griffee of Gokicker.com wrote, “offensive jokes aside, the South can’t handle the snow because it’s not used to snow.”
It is not because the South is unused to extreme weather, Griffee implored, but rather it is accustomed to different types of extreme weather – such as tornadoes, hurricanes and droughts.
“If multiple tornadoes suddenly hit the Big Apple, people wouldn’t have the tools to deal with them,” wrote Griffee.
For Boston or New York, it would make more sense to base their infrastructure on salt trucks and snow plows, rather than tornado shelters.
According to Griffee, city and state governments do not have unlimited resources to prepare for every conceivable weather event.
“They prepare for the ones that are most likely,” Griffee told readers.
Comments are closed.