As I sit here writing this article, the sun is shining and it is 45 degrees outside. For Colgate students, temperatures this high feel like summer and call for shorts and a t-shirt. However, just a week ago Campus Safety was sending emails warning students of extreme cold, below zero temperatures and cautioning us of frostbite which could result if skin was exposed for more than ten minutes in that weather.
At this time, other schools such as Lehigh and Bucknell were cancelling classes under less serious weather conditions, yet Colgate administrators didn’t bat an eye at the flocks of students slipping down the hill and shivering as they walked to their morning classes in negative temperatures.
So Colgate students decided to take matters into their own hands and a petition was created with the goal of cancelling classes for that Thursday. Over 3,100 people signed the petition… that’s more than the amount of students even enrolled at this school. Within minutes the petition had spread to every student and beyond.
Students went to sleep that night with their alarms set for 6:00am when the call would be made for whether classes would be cancelled or not…
In the end, only 8:30am classes were cancelled and the dream ended at 9:55am. Although we did not reach the ultimate goal of cancelling all classes, the success of this petition and quick spread displays how Colgate students truly bond together to support a cause. We’ll get ‘em next time…