Weather: How bad should it be for colleges to cancel classes?

[Iastfan112]

This morning as I tracked the departing snow and conditions I also perused facebook in which a number of my friends showed there displeasure that both ISU and Iowa were having classes today in spite of the "horrible" road conditions. I essentially told them to quit whining for 3 fold reasons.
1.Its finals and especially with it being friday it would cause scheduling problems, your not in high school anymore
2.Road conditions may be bad but the vast majority of people still had to head to work this morning, view it in a similar vein.
3. Most college students live relatively near to their campus and thus travel difficulties are somewhat negated
4. I didn't mention this but from most accounts, the roads weren't great but they weren't dangerously treacherous either

In return I had some nasty messages sent my way and just am curious to see everyones opinions on the issue.

 

[cmoneyr]

In Ames road conditions were not bad at all this morning.

 

[Iastfan112]

Added questions: What does it take to keep you from going to work weather wise?
Should colleges function like a job in that respect or operate by a different standard when judging when to come in and when not to?

 

[Bader]

Canceling classes in college is just stupid. Nobody forces you to be present in most classes (I know some LAS professors seem to do required attendance), and if you are supposed to be present and you deem traveling unsafe, a simple email will suffice almost every time.

Almost any professor would be understanding of the situation as they generally have farther to travel than any of their students.

 

[CycloneErik]

I'm not a fan of cancelling much of anything. If it puts children in danger, cancel it. Adults, keep it scheduled, and they can make their own decision.

 

[GoCy]

When I was in ISU, they cancelled class once, due to -20F temps outside. That day, I drove down Welch, and every bar had a massive line outside. Too cold to go to class, but never too cold to go to the bar.

 

[jj-cyclones]

If cy ride can run on the roads than they really don't have a need to cancel classes...but trust me I am not going to ***** about them getting cacelled :notworthy:

 

[clones26]

I cancelled class a few times in college due to drunken slumber

 

[Chipper]

If cy ride can run on the roads than they really don't have a need to cancel classes...but trust me I am not going to ***** about them getting cacelled :notworthy:

This kind of ignores the small population of commuters.