University of Michigan does not have snow days

[snopes]

Comment: Rumor: University of Michigan will never have a snow day because
law students sued the school the last time they had one for not giving the
amount of education they had paid for.

----------------------------

Comment: My wife and I were talking about the bad winter weather we had
went through recently. She was a University of Michigan student and I'm
an Ohio State graduate. We had both heard the same rumor about why our
respective schools never cancelled classes: because sometime in the past
some law school students had sued the school for cancelling classes,
citing their high tuition rates and the majority of on-campus housed
students as reasons for not cancelling classes.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: Rumor: University of Michigan will never have a snow day because
law students sued the school the last time they had one for not giving the
amount of education they had paid for.

Why doesn't the University have snow days?

[diddy]

The rumor doesn't make much sense. Does any school dictate that students are paying for and guarenteed X amount of days? I wouldn't think so. Couldn't you extend that to individual teachers who have to cancel classes (ie illness)? My experience for college classes was that they don't bother with substitutes unless its a real emergency that would last long terms.

Even if there was a lawsuit, it could easily argue that cancellation of classes is dictated in school policy (that a student would have to agree to). Not to mention pointing out that canceling classes is done when roads would be closed to accommodate the teachers safely arriving. I would doubt that it would be very successful as most people would use the free day to sleep in or study extra. The curriculum can always be adjusted.

[Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue]

Thanks for the article, Beachlife! That's very interesting.

When we lived in Columbus, OH (that's right, I'm referring to TOSU) I was surprised when classes were never, ever cancelled due to weather. We had some pretty intense storms, but classes always went on!

Of course, I'm a CA girl, so my perception may be skewed, but dang are Midwestern universities resillient!

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue

When we lived in Columbus, OH (that's right, I'm referring to TOSU) I was surprised when classes were never, ever cancelled due to weather. We had some pretty intense storms, but classes always went on!

Even at Ohio University in Athens, which gets much less snowfall, it was very rare to close the university for weather. I knew a guy who went to school there from 1976 - 1980, a period that included at least two very nasty winters, and they only time they closed was when the governor declared an emergency and shut down every institution he could control.

Walking up and down steep hills on picturesque brick sidewalks after an ice storm is an interesting experience.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue

Thanks for the article, Beachlife! That's very interesting.

When we lived in Columbus, OH (that's right, I'm referring to TOSU) I was surprised when classes were never, ever cancelled due to weather. We had some pretty intense storms, but classes always went on!

Of course, I'm a CA girl, so my perception may be skewed, but dang are Midwestern universities resillient!

Being a Michigan State Allum myself, OSU doesn't bother me. We have a common enemy in Michigan. Which btw, is where my youngest daughter will be attending next year forcing me to give up some of my grudge against the school. I do recognize that it is an excellent school, and I look forward to the next MSU/U of M game.

In my years at MSU they never closed the University for snow, ice, flooding, or extrememly cold weather. Since I grew up on the west coast the winters I spent on campus were especially brutal for me.

I remember an especially cold february morning in my first year on campus. For those not from the area, 'especially cold' in this case meant -25ish windchills. I was awoken to a loud knocking at my door. When I opened the door my buddy Cecil (who would later be my room-mate) thrust a full set of long johns through the door. He just said 'wear these or you're going to freeze your California ass off'.

Beach...I think he saved my life that day...Life!

[chillas]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Walking up and down steep hills on picturesque brick sidewalks after an ice storm is an interesting experience.

When I was there in 91-92, we always cheated and used the elevator in the Music Building rather than walk up the hill on Union.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by chillas

When I was there in 91-92, we always cheated and used the elevator in the Music Building rather than walk up the hill on Union.

That was a great cheat! Unfortunately, I lived on New South.

Remember the catwalks linking the dorms on New South? I took one step out of my dorm's front door one morning and slid all the way to and across the catwalk, slamming into the railing. I was very grateful for my low center of gravity that day. If I'd been taller, I might have flipped over the railing.

[chillas]

Originally Posted by Lainie

That was a great cheat! Unfortunately, I lived on New South.

Remember the catwalks linking the dorms on New South? I took one step out of my dorm's front door one morning and slid all the way to and across the catwalk, slamming into the railing. I was very grateful for my low center of gravity that day. If I'd been taller, I might have flipped over the railing.

Yeah, I was on New South my freshman year. Wow, that's scary! :o

I seem to recall that it was often faster to go all the way to ground level and walk straight to where you were going rather than follow the catwalks around. I always got the impression the catwalks were there just for the purpose of being different.

[Mr. Furious]

Syracuse canceled classes for one day following a 36" snowfall in March, 1993. The only reason they did so, from what I heard at the time, was that it was the first day after spring break, and the airport had been closed, so a number of students couldn't get back to campus in time. I know that drifts had blocked entrances to many of the buildings as well, but that probably could've been cleared up in the two days following the snowfall.

That was the first time classes had been canceled due to snow since 1963. It happened during the winter in which we got 193" of snow.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by chillas

I seem to recall that it was often faster to go all the way to ground level and walk straight to where you were going rather than follow the catwalks around. I always got the impression the catwalks were there just for the purpose of being different.

Well, that, and when you build on a former riverbed, the ground gets a bit damp at times. That's why there weren't any residential rooms on the ground floors of those buildings.

[chillas]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Well, that, and when you build on a former riverbed, the ground gets a bit damp at times. That's why there weren't any residential rooms on the ground floors of those buildings.

Oh! I had no idea that was the reason! That does make sense. Thanks!

[Avu]

University of Alaska Fairbanks has not been closed due to weather in the 13 years I've been in Fairbanks. We don't often get huge amounts of snow at once though.

Individual instructors will sometimes have a policy that if it's colder than X at a certain time according to the campus thermometer, class is canceled.

[RealityChuck]

Originally Posted by chillas

When I was there in 91-92, we always cheated and used the elevator in the Music Building .

And did they play elevator music?

[Casey]

UT/UT Med has closed twice in the last two years for weather. Both times the roads were nasty enough that no one was going to show up anyway. Weirdly, neither had closed for weather since 1993 prior to that.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by chillas

Oh! I had no idea that was the reason! That does make sense. Thanks!

The Hocking River was re-routed before New South was built. The bridge on Richland Avenue, up the hill from West Green, is over part of the original riverbed.

I'm not surprised. as a rule, the more wintery a climate you have, the less likey class will be canceled.

[bl76km81]

I live in Iowa, for a while I worked in retail, it would blow my mind that they closed the schools and business because of the weather, but it didn't stop people from getting out to shop.

No matter how bad it was I had to be at work. No matter how bad it was your mail was delivered.

[AnglRdr]

My university closed at 10 once. Which was awesome because I always had 8 o'clock classes. *sigh*

My brother went to University of New Hampshire, which, as I recall, was the only institution that didn't close during a major snowstorm in 1992--even the navy base I was stationed at closed. It was known then as the University of No Holidays.