Editorial Middlebury 1, Blizzard 0

Author: [no author name found]

Last Wednesday night, Middlebury and the rest of the Northeast bore witness to a blizzard that brought several feet of snow, sub-zero temperatures and strong, gusty winds.

In a decidedly Middlebury fashion, the snow brought faculty children sleigh-riding down Mead Chapel's hill, new Febs building snow forts on Battell Beach, excited skiers heading for the Bowl and, of course, many relieved students who were able to extend their hiatus from studies that began with Feb break (or J-term).

For the students of Middlebury College, the snow was not an impediment but rather a luxury. The reason? The Middlebury College staff.

Defying all odds with a Valentine's Day gift to be remembered for some time, the College Staff held this campus together last Wednesday night and throughout the day on Thursday.

Thanks to Middlebury's Dining Services staff, all three dining halls remained open Wednesday night and throughout the day Thursday. To accomplish the feat, more than a half dozen dining hall employees wrapped up in sleeping bags and spent the night on sofas and furniture sleeping in the dining halls. Without their willingness to stay here, they could have been snowed into their homes and unable to return to open dining halls for students on Thursday morning.

The top-notch work of the facilities staff should also be commended. Facilities services crews were out late Tuesday and worked tirelessly through the week to ensure that the roads and walkways were passable. When we were going to bed and when we were waking up, we could still hear Facilities' trucks plowing and staff shoveling at all hours of the storm. Every student should thank a member of the facilities team for their hard work, and also be mindful that the work does not end with this one blizzard, but continues throughout the long Middlebury winter.

And we appreciate the work of the administrators in Old Chapel for their handling of the College through the winter storm. While canceling classes on Wednesday would have been nice, and might have even allowed Facilities staff to get ahead of the snowfall accumulation, the late night e-mail from President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz and non-stop updates from other offices let us know decisions were not being taken lightly. As President Liebowitz commented after the storm, everyone could learn something from the things that might have gone better last week, but we would say a lot of things went very well.