I met Hurricane Sandy with giddy anticipation. I bought a keg, picked up a few good books and screamed obscenities into the wind, daring Mother Nature to do her worst.
In honor of my request, Sandy doubled down and curb stomped the East Coast. To say I was woefully unprepared is an understatement. The keg was kicked before the storm even arrived and the taps at the Levee were shut off, a true college nightmare.
By the time Sandy sauntered into town, my house on Reef Road was already starting to flood. The extent of the damage is yet to be seen but it’s a safe assumption that none of the Fairfield Beach residents are getting home anytime soon. So what’s a kid to do?
For those of you who decided to stay on campus like me you know that most people at the university have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Fairfield University gets an A for effort with the StagAlerts but the content of those texts hasn’t been helpful in addressing the elephant in the room.
Whoever is running Fairfield’s communications network really needs to brush up on his or her crisis management playbook.
Any crisis management professional worth their salt would tell you that in the aftermath of a crisis the most import thing to do is “Answer the First Question” for all impacted parties. For staff this question is: “Do I have work?” For underclassmen and students living on campus the question is: “Do I have classes?” The question for seniors at the Beach is: “Where the hell am I going to live? ”
To be fair, the University addressed the concerns of staff and students living on campus quickly. What they have not done efficiently, as of Wednesday night, is address the needs of those living off campus.
During the storm all students without a place to stay were told to sleep in the BCC. The problem was there were no sleeping arrangements. No cots, no blankets, nothing to dispel the dread of those students seeking asylum from the storm.
Now that the storm has passed, the housing survey going around is sloppy and slow. It completely fails to address the immediate situation with anything other than “go home or find a hotel.” As a student who is paying full tuition I find that offensive. I’m from New Jersey; I can’t go home and I’m sure others are in a similar position.
The other thing that needs to be addressed is how teachers are handling the situation. Pointing to the class cancellation policy on your syllabus and telling misplaced students to keep with the readings when most of them lost their books is frustrating.
I understand teachers’ intentions to effectuate a return to normality but in our current situation that just isn’t possible. I know that Hurricane Sandy wasn’t included in anyone’s lesson plans but ignoring it and going about business as usual is ludicrous.
Teachers and students need to work together to make the rest of this semester work and that’s going to take some compromise from both sides of the table.
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