To the Editor:
This is in response to Mark Andrews and Nicholas Lesniewski-Laas’ letter last week assessing that the Institute has “gone … soft” in closing school for the snow day last Wednesday. I know that Andrews lives (with his parents) and works in Newark, N.J., at least a two and a half hour drive south of RPI. Down there the event last Wednesday was mostly rain and very little snow, if I remember the Weather Channel correctly, meaning that Andrews would have had no idea of the conditions in the Capital Region and Troy itself.
I don’t know if Andrews reads Newsweek, it might be too high for his reading level, but RPI is now a “new Ivy.” This means that RPI is officially a top caliber school and in the next few years is expected to move into the top 20 according to U.S. News and World Reports. That means the Institute is responsible, not only for opening the young minds of all the students at Rensselaer, but also watching out for their safety and the safety of the staff who works here as well. If Andrews was on campus last Wednesday he would have actually seen that the campus east of 15th Street was up and running. The Union was open and occupied by many students and the Mueller center was open for anyone wishing to work out. All run by students. I think that shows the dedication and work ethic that RPI has imbued onto its students. I would even go so far as to call those students “hardcore” and “snow-weathered.”
I also agree with Philip Glowacki’s letter questioning the cleaning of the streets on subsequent days. Peoples Avenue was snow-covered for about three more days after it stopped snowing. This is unacceptable. I know it is technically the responsibility of Troy to clean that street, but RPI runs its shuttle along Peoples Avenue and the fact that the shuttles had to change their route because their normal route was not clean means something needs to be done. RPI needs to be the bigger man or woman here and make sure the roads surrounding the Institute are clean so that its hard working and dedicated students can get to class safely and on time.
Dan Roberts BMED ’07
