Sophomore Madi Taylor didn’t want to walk to her early morning women’s health class in the School of Public Health building.
Luckily, she was able to park her car at a disabled Bloomington parking meter.
The City of Bloomington on-street metered parking operations were suspended Thursday and will resume Monday.
According to a press release from the city, on-street meter enforcement is suspended due to the severe weather conditions.
When Taylor woke up for her 9:30 a.m. public health class Thursday, she decided that she would take advantage of the suspension, given the brisk minus 3-degree temperature.
“I’m glad I drove to class instead of walking because it is really cold outside even if you wear layers,” Taylor said. “I was pretty surprised that IU didn’t cancel at least some of the morning classes.”
According to an article from Inside IU published Thursday, the discussion about when to cancel IU-Bloomington classes and operations begins when a group that includes representatives from Physical Plant, IU Police Department and Residential Programs and Services and Campus Division have a conversation.
The group analyzes the status of campus grounds, buildings, walkways and ?buses, taking into account area forecasts and travel advisories, the article said.
“There’s no way to make 42,000 students and 10,000 plus employees happy in a case like this — and just because we decided not to cancel class doesn’t mean we aren’t aware that some people may have had a difficult time getting in today,” IU Communications spokesperson Mark Land said in the article. “We never want to put people in dangerous situations, but these decisions require our best judgment to determine what truly is unsafe vs. simply inconvenient or a bit ?unpleasant.”
On Monday, the IU-Bloomington Twitter account tweeted that it had 300 IU employees working throughout the day to clear campus walkways.
The City of Bloomington canceled its Sanitation Department services Thursday, due to the weather.
That decision was made in accordance with the City’s cold weather policy, which prohibits Sanitation Department staff from working when the temperatures are minus 10 degrees sustained or with a wind chill.
Early forecasts for Friday indicate temperatures and wind chills should remain above these levels, resulting in Thursday’s sanitation routes being picked up Friday, according to a press release.
