Spring is in the air, but rumors about making up snow days still linger. However, University officials have no plans to extend the semester into May to make up the six missed days.
Senior Administrator Secretary Connie Dunn said students and faculty can expect to have an unaltered semester.
“Grades have to be in on a certain date, and the exam schedule can’t be changed, so extending the semester just isn’t an option,” she said. “Rumors circulate because people are used to the high-school stigma of having to make up days they miss.”
Dunn has been a member of the student affairs team at the U of M for more than five years. She said rumors, such as eliminating spring break or extending the semester, circulate on campus every year when classes are canceled due to inclement weather.
A winter storm on Feb. 16 and continued cold weather caused classes at the University of Memphis to be canceled four days in the same week, something that has not happened since 1987.
Public Safety Director Bruce Harber said in his 16 years as a university employee, this was the first time he can recall the university being closed for three straight days. The University was closed Feb. 16, Feb. 17 and Feb. 18. It was open on Feb. 19, and then closed again on Feb. 20 when more ice moved into the area. Then after eight days back in school, snow and ice struck again and classes were cancelled March 4-5.
“Even though I did enjoy not having to go to school, I feel like I am behind in my work because we missed so much, and I think it is unfair we pay for a certain amount of classes we might not get,” junior nursing major Kathleen Beegle said.
A recent study done by the University of Maryland suggests unscheduled school closings that are not compensated for might be linked to lower student performance at a university. The study showed an average GPA of 3.14 for those students who had a semester with no snow days versus an average GPA of 3.04 for those who missed more than three days due to inclement weather.
“I don’t think a lot of students realize that the more days we miss, not only are we losing money, but our grades might be suffering too,” Beegle said.
However, lost schoolwork is not the only problem when classes are cancelled. Student employees and some other hourly workers can lose pay.
History major Grace White, who works at the UC help desk, was one of the campus employees who clocked in at a lower number of hours than usual because of the snow days.
“I usually get at least 17 hours for the week, and I only ended up with three because of the snow,” she said. “At first I was happy classes were canceled, but then I realized my pay was seriously going to be affected.”
