Snow cleanup not quick enough for some students

As the snow came down Monday night and Tuesday morning, Gena Zaiderman and Corrie Zabinsky sat in their Hiester Hall dorm room with one eye on the Weather Channel and the other on the falling snow.

The two said they were hoping that the hours of snow would bring announcements of canceled classes. Then Zaiderman (sophomore-speech communication) and Zabinsky (sophomore-marketing) saw a sight that erased those hopes -- a University snowplow clearing the walkways.

- Angela Gressem (junior-human development and family studies)

Yet, not every student thought the snow removal process happened fast enough or well enough.

Angela Gressem (junior-human development and family studies) said the areas around her dorm and classes was not fully cleared until yesterday.

"It takes too long to get them cleared," she said. "I don't think that we should have to wait two days for the roads to get cleared."

Snow removal for walkways are done by two different crews: a landscape crew for the main walkways and a janitorial crew for entranceways and smaller groups, said Lloyd Rhoades, manager of central services.

In general, the Office of Physical Plant receives practically no complaints from students regarding the snow removal, said Paul Ruskin, spokesperson for the Office of Physical Plant.

However, the amount of snow and the length of time that it snowed made it difficult to keep everything completely cleared all day, Rhoades said.

"The biggest factor in any snowstorm is timing . . . and duration," Rhoades said.

Some of the walkways that were cleared first remained covered because of the continuous snow, he added. When the temperatures dropped Tuesday night, the walkways were salted as much as possible, he said.

More salt would also be welcomed by Patrick Ruhe (junior-electrical engineering) who said although the walkways were clear, curbs were very slippery.

Jill Grzankowski (senior-French and Spanish) said she would also like to see more salt and clearer walkways after she fell and fractured her wrist during the first snowstorm of the semester.

In an E-mail to University President Graham Spanier, Executive Vice President and Provost John Brighton and The Daily Collegian, Grzankowski said she was surprised and disappointed to find the walkways had not been adequately cleared on campus by Tuesday morning.

"I am still wearing my splint from my first fall. . . . I was trying my hardest not to fall again," she said in the E-mail. "We as students should be concerned about going to class every day. We should not have to be concerned about getting to class every day."