Whether rain or crime, students complain

Shane Wade
Opinion Editor

I’ll risk my reputation as one of the foremost critics of our university to say this: VCU cares about its student body.

Our university is the first public university within the state of Virginia to hire a full-time emergency planner and is headed by an administration that has consistently engaged the student body. Their desire for student feedback has become so pervasive, it’s a wonder that President Michael Rao doesn’t run through the bleachers at basketball games, screaming “You get an iPad! You get an iPad!” in an Oprah-esque manner while Rodney the Ram jumps up and down on a nearby couch.

It’s disheartening and frustrating to see the student body’s reaction, in the form of Facebook statuses, blog posts and tweets to the administration’s decision to cancel classes on Monday and delay the university’s opening by two hours on Tuesday.

For an administration responsible for more than 5,000 students housed in on-campus residence halls, a bustling medical center and thousands of commuter students, closing the university is no arbitrary manner. In addition to our full-time emergency planning director, key staff members keep in contact with public and private weather experts, attend storm readiness training with the National Weather Service in Wakefield, Va., and monitor updates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What students don’t understand is that being an administrator at VCU is more than a full-time job or a career. It’s part of a person’s life. Not only is it ignorant to say that VCU doesn’t care about its students, it’s a brash affront to the individuals that work around the clock to ensure this institution works for you.

The ignorance of this vocal minority is even more evident in the matters of safety at VCU. Being a resident of Jackson Ward, I know that crime l mlaround the Monroe Park campus is a serious and alarming issue. But to blame VCU for not doing enough to stop crime ignores the fact that we live on an urban campus and that we don’t live in a police state.

VCU is more than a simple school. It’s a research university and a business that employs thousands of people in the local Richmond area alone. We’re not some public high school that cancels classes if there’s too much ice on the sidewalk.

For the Richmond area, Hurricane Sandy was nothing more that a windy thunderstorm. VCU didn’t want you to wade through flooded streets and 50-mph winds to get to class. They canceled classes out of convenience and consideration for the student body.

It’s painfully obvious to me how dedicated the university is to its students, but it’s also painfully obvious to me that there’s a part of the student body that offers petty snipes whenever they receive a text alert about a crime or a timely message concerning class cancellations.

VCU cares for its students and the proof is evident every day and every night. We’re fortunate to have a responsive and engaged administration and it would benefit students to remember that next time they feel inconvenienced by well-intentioned procedures.