By Amanda Bernocco
Staff Writer
Due to the recent snow days, both study days, April 30 and May 1, will be used to make up cancelled classes to ensure that the New York State Education Department (NYSED) contact hours are reached. Professors may choose to make up the missed classes on a Friday or during common hour as long as the decision is discussed with both their students and the Registrar office.
“I’ve missed, like, all my Philosophy classes,” said Brianna Vanacoro, a junior Fine Arts major. On the first day of the semester, Tuesday, Jan. 21, classes after 3:30 p.m. were cancelled. The following day, Wednesday, Jan. 22, all classes were cancelled due to the winter weather conditions. During the third week of school, all classes on Monday, Feb. 3 and Wednesday, Feb. 5 were once again cancelled due to inclement weather. Heavy rain, sleet and snow, caused by Winter Storm Pax, led to classes being cancelled on Feb. 13.
Students were notified of the closings through their LIU email accounts as well as via text message notifications, and on the LIU Post website. “I’ve gotten [the text message notifications] early enough before I left [to go to class],” said Andrea Senenman, a dual-degree graduate student studying Nutrition.
However, Senenman expressed concerns about missing the same class multiple times, especially since it was her Chemistry lab. “Typically, the decision on how to make up class time (due to weather, illness, etc.) is left to the discretion of the faculty. But when we close multiple times for snow closures, we need to formally establish options for how class time is made up,” said Beth Wilkow, registrar.
There is no plan as to what will happen if Long Island experiences another winter storm strong enough to close campus. However, both Wilkow and Joanne Graziano, associate provost for Student Financial Services, say that if the situation arises where the campus needs to make up more days, senior leadership of the university, Jeff Kane, (vice president of Academic Affairs), will hold a meeting to discuss options concerning make-up days.
In Nov. 2012, when Super Storm Sandy hit the area, LIU Post was closed from Oct. 31 and didn’t reopen until Nov. 7, according to the LIU Post website. To make up the contact hours, classes were instructed to meet on Fridays or Saturdays and during common hour.
“It won’t be too bad since it’s early and we’re still getting into the swing of things,” said Danielle Savarese, a junior Art Education major. “We missed more during Sandy and we made that up.”
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