Classes were canceled on Thursday and Friday, and while this was a smart move on the university’s part, it was also an excessive one.
As a preface, this claim is being made after the fact, but App State’s decision to cancel classes was overly cautious. There was not a drop of rain neither Thursday nor Friday. In fact, the sun was out, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.
It’s understandable why the university would choose to cancel classes. This gave students and the university the opportunity to prepare for Florence, and it gave students the opportunity to leave town if needed.
Jason Marshburn, the Director of Environmental Health, Safety and Management, said that a big factor in the decision to cancel classes was the unpredictability of Florence. Even as Hurricane Florence was about to make landfall, the forecast kept changing.
And yet, in the days leading up to Florence’s arrival, multiple weather services predicted that, even if there had been rain, it wouldn’t be more than an inch or two on either day.
Because classes were also canceled on Monday and Tuesday, students missed classes they didn’t need to, especially with it being likely that students will be missing more classes come winter.
The university’s decision may not have been the wrong one, but this excessive caution will lead to many classes being disrupted.
Q Russell is a senior journalism major from Charlotte, North Carolina.