The College deserves our utmost praise for handling the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies with sensitivity and serving to the needs of the students and faculty, for cancelling classes for Tuesday, scheduling prayer vigils and services for the varied religions on our campus. This was in addition to counselling, 24-hour services in Wilson Commons and announcements for the Wednesday blood drive at Strong Memorial Hospital.
However, not everything about UR?s reaction is to be commended. The lack of uniformity between schools caused many problems, especially for the students who attend classes at multiple campuses. While classes were cancelled at the College, classes at Eastman School of Music were only cancelled at the professor?s discretion.
Students had little way to know if they were supposed to go to their classes at the other campus. In a situation where a UR state of emergency is declared, the colleges should not be left to make their own decisions, President Thomas Jackson must take action.
Also, the declaration that classes were not cancelled for Wednesday should have been issued no later than late evening. To do so at 6 a.m. is unfair to students.
Students should have known the night before whether classes were going to be cancelled or not. In the future, care should be taken to let students know what is going on, and to avoid marring the otherwise well-executed reaction of UR to a national tragedy.
