With a large amount of commuter students at ETSU and the distances traveled by some commuter students on the rise, ETSU should consider revising the current snow policy and incorporating a no-questions-asked snow policy.
Students who have to travel a long distance over possible mountainous roads are consistently putting themselves at risk when snow begins to fall. Therefore, it seems necessary for the administration to give the discretion completely to the student to decide whether or not this risk is worth taking.
By this, I mean professors and administration should not penalize students if inclement weather is the excuse for absence. Most professors will accept a doctors’ excuse, but will not consider the danger of driving in snow as worthy of an excused absence. I would not even bring that argument to the table if it had not happened to me in the past.
I have personally been reprimanded for deciding not to take the risk of driving to school when more snow was at my house than on campus. This type of penalization has to stop, not to mention attendance policies and grades being castigated because certain commuting students feel the risk is not worth the reward. Not only is driving in snowy conditions dangerous, but also the fact that visibility is lessened making parking and walking through campus more dangerous.
Talking about the parking issues on campus is like kicking a dead horse, so I won’t specify my opinions on the subject, but adding large snowflakes and possible slush in the parking lots does not help the situation.
I am not asking for innovative cancelation techniques or to cancel classes when one flake of snow falls, but I am saying that students who attend a school that claims to care about their health should not penalize a student’s grades because they chose to stay home when snow is falling.
You cannot walk into many buildings on campus and miss the signs emblazed on the walls that ETSU cares about your health indicating that tobacco usage is prohibited.
Having a smoke-free campus means nothing but a sizeable grant for the university, allowing students to use their own discretion when traveling to school in inclement weather literally means nothing to the university. Where is the care for our health now?
I would like to attend a university where care for health comes with logic rather than dollar signs. Is your life worth missing points in classes for deciding not to attend school if your roadways are covered near your house? I certainly do not think so. Is your health important only when money is involved for the university? I certainly hope not.  

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