Though Tuesday’s anticipated subzero temperatures and the national championship football game on Monday night sparked chatter regarding whether or not the University would cancel classes on Tuesday, the Office of Undergraduate Education sent out an email Thursday confirming that students would be expected to attend class.
“Our first mission at the University is academic, and all our other activities flow from this mission,” vice president and associate provost for undergraduate education, Fr. Daniel Groody wrote.
He acknowledged the many students who traveled to Atlanta to cheer on Notre Dame in their final game of the season and advised them to “please consult your syllabi regarding your instructors’ absence policies and plan accordingly.”
In a statement to The Observer, Groody stood by his original message but added that “we urge students to use good judgment in regards to their returning safely to campus.”
Many students questioned the decision and hoped that their professors would still choose to cancel class. Those who did not travel to the game cited the freezing weather as a reason for their concern.
The National Weather Service issued a cold weather advisory at 1:42 p.m. on Tuesday, though residents of the South Bend area had been expecting the low temperatures for days.
“The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 20 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes. Frostbite and hypothermia will occur if unprotected skin is exposed to these temperatures. Wind chill values can lead to hypothermia with prolonged exposure,” the advisory read.
Students worried that their walks to class, especially to the further buildings on campus such as DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and the Walsh Family Hall of Architecture, could be dangerous.
“I was surprised that class didn’t get canceled because I am a native Floridian who has never experienced negative numbers. I couldn’t fathom a feels-like temperature of -17 degrees,” freshman Stella Xu said.
As an architecture student and a Lewis Hall resident, she mentioned that her walk to the building where many of her classes are held usually takes her upwards of 17 minutes.
Meanwhile, some students who attended the national championship game did not think that they would make it back in time for their Tuesday classes, as the game started at 7:30 p.m. and ended around 11:00 p.m.
Freshman Arden Maersch, who flew back from the game on Tuesday afternoon, said there were a number of other students in her situation. She said that while she understood the University’s decision not to cancel class for the entire school, traveling to the game should be a valid reason for an excused absence.
“Given that it’s an important and rare opportunity, students shouldn’t be discouraged from traveling to support the team,” Maersch said.
Freshman Emma Phelan shared the same sentiment.
“I think that classes should have been canceled because it was hard for people to get back, and it’s not every year that we get to a championship," Phelan said.
She noted that around half of the people in her honors seminar were absent and many students were also missing in her moreau first year seminar.
Professors around campus noticed that a good amount of students were missing on Tuesday. Kathleen Cummings, who co-teaches Global Catholicism with Fr. Paul Kollman, estimated “that about 25-33 percent [of their students] were absent.” The number was close to what they expected.
