Campus closure causes delay in coursework

TCUs+Greek+Village+covered+in+snow+the+morning+of+Jan.+31.+%28Delaney+Vega%2F+Staff+Writer%29

TCU’s Greek Village covered in snow the morning of Jan. 31. (Delaney Vega/ Staff Writer)

By Delaney Vega, Staff Writer
Published Feb 9, 2023

TCU professors and students are struggling to catch up on course content and assignments after a four-day inclement weather emergency.

With the campus closure, professors and instructors were forced to make alterations to their curriculum plans in accordance with TCU policy.

The Office of the Provost previously released a statement guaranteeing that assignments due during inclement weather emergencies will cease during closure and that course expectations or deadlines should be adjusted once the campus reopens. 

“I had to adjust a couple of due dates and speed up the way we covered a few topics,” Karen Martin, a Spanish instructor, said. “Flexibility is key.”

Deviating from the emergency policy, various students account that some professors continued with assignments and due dates, although they conflicted with campus and classroom closure. This caused many students to fall behind on work.

Felicity Holdsworth, a sophomore communications studies major, recalls that she still had assignments due during this period, making her skeptical of TCU’s effort to enforce the policy.

“If classes are canceled, students should not be expected to complete work,” Holdsworth said. “If school has shut down, there is a reason, and professors don’t know how it has affected each student personally and can’t assume that everyone is still able to complete it.”

Students return to an open campus and go straight to work. (Delaney Vega/ Staff Writer)

Director of Emergency Management Sean Taylor emphasized how it is hard to respond quickly during an emergency and provide answers for those in confusion, even though TCU has seen emergency closures in previous years.

“Our response plan constantly has changes to help us become more efficient,” Taylor said.

Martin prepares for emergency closures every year. 

“I do agree with the policy, but I also understand why it’s hard for some people to do that,” said Martin. “I try to know where we are going to be on any given week, especially in the end of January up to Valentine’s Day, so I can already start thinking about how I will adjust due dates, exams and quizzes.”

In addition, some students were left without any information from their professors regarding scheduling changes and assignment updates. This caused many students to fall behind on work and spend the entirety of the reopening week working on assignments.

“A couple of my professors never reached out, so I never knew if assignments were due,” said Holdsworth. “Once campus reopened, I was pretty lost, so I keep double checking my syllabus and spending most of my time in the library catching up.”

Taylor sympathizes with students and professors and looks to make updates to his procedures for emergency days.

“I will say that we do review our response protocols and implement lessons learned after any emergency response on campus,” he said.