With classes canceled, Syracuse University students spend time following Sandy coverage catching up on work

As Hurricane Sandy made its way along the East Coast yesterday, Syracuse University took precautionary measures to keep students and faculty out of danger.

A weather alert email distributed Monday morning informed the SU community that classes would be canceled until Wednesday, when the school is expected to resume its normal schedule. However, despite the potential dangers of Hurricane Sandy, SU students said they have not felt threatened and have used the two-day break to relax.

Photo: Andrew Renneisen

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Elizabeth Kang, a health and exercise junior, said she feels safe and out of harm’s way.

“I wasn’t scared at all, I think I was kind of indifferent,” said Kang, who also followed the news coverage of the storm. “I slept right through it.”

Debbie Ritz, a social work junior, said she was shocked the university thought there was enough of a threat to cancel classes given Syracuse's location away from the coast. But, Ritz said, she was also relieved at the precaution.

Political science and economic junior Kevin Aportela-Flores said he thinks canceling classes was an excessive precaution.

“I think it was unnecessary for classes to be canceled on campus, but that would not stop people from not leaving their homes,” said Aportela-Flores. “Canceling classes may have just been a way of simply just having people not worry about it.”

Residential hall staffs prepared for the onset of students staying indoors during the storm, instructing resident advisers to watch out for excessive celebrating or partying within the dorms.

“Our supervisors had an emergency meeting, and they said to treat [Monday] like a weekend,” said Ben Snyder, a broadcast digital journalism senior and Booth Hall resident adviser. Snyder said he saw nothing out of the ordinary Monday night.

Students like sports management sophomore Nicholas Neu used the free time productively rather than celebratory.

“Obviously I’m happy school got canceled,” said Neu. “I just relaxed for the most part, and caught up on classes after Halloween weekend.”