2008 Woodie Awards
Letter To The Editor: "Rollins' Hurricane Wilma Plan"
Issue date: 10/28/05 Section: Opinions
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Dear Editor:
Sunday afternoon I was relieved to find out that my classes at UCF would not be held on the Monday that Hurricane Wilma arrived on Florida. In communication with a friend attending Rollins, I was shocked to find that Rollins had decided to hold a regular schedule as a Category 3 hurricane was inbound.
A letter from President Duncan was brought to my attention, and I would like to comment on a few points it made. The first and foremost being the weather predictions used in making the decision. To call a hurricane's track "a tightly predicted path" is completely ludicrous. Had the administration so quickly forgotten that the hurricane was supposed to be in Florida on Saturday night? Or that hurricane Floyd was tracking to destroy Florida, while instead making a northward turn hitting land in North Carolina?
The danger of "tropical storm level winds" was severely downplayed in this letter to the students. Winds at speeds up to 73 miles an hour can hurtle debris fast enough to kill a person, especially if on foot (which most of the Rollins student body commutes on). This is much more than a little bad weather.
The speculation that UCF cancelled classes because of its large commuting student body is correct. It was precautionary for the safety of the students, faculty, and staff. What the Rollins administration failed to realize is that the commuters for UCF travel surrounded by 2 tons of steel, air bags, traction control, and crumple zones. Rollins commuters have their skin and clothes as armor.
I applaud the public grade level schools, the University of Central Florida, and any business which did close in the name of safety for the people they were responsible. To Rollins College, I believe that you are truly lucky that nobody got hurt on your campus considering you took no apparent precautions against it.
J. Wegleitner
UCF Student
Sunday afternoon I was relieved to find out that my classes at UCF would not be held on the Monday that Hurricane Wilma arrived on Florida. In communication with a friend attending Rollins, I was shocked to find that Rollins had decided to hold a regular schedule as a Category 3 hurricane was inbound.
A letter from President Duncan was brought to my attention, and I would like to comment on a few points it made. The first and foremost being the weather predictions used in making the decision. To call a hurricane's track "a tightly predicted path" is completely ludicrous. Had the administration so quickly forgotten that the hurricane was supposed to be in Florida on Saturday night? Or that hurricane Floyd was tracking to destroy Florida, while instead making a northward turn hitting land in North Carolina?
The danger of "tropical storm level winds" was severely downplayed in this letter to the students. Winds at speeds up to 73 miles an hour can hurtle debris fast enough to kill a person, especially if on foot (which most of the Rollins student body commutes on). This is much more than a little bad weather.
The speculation that UCF cancelled classes because of its large commuting student body is correct. It was precautionary for the safety of the students, faculty, and staff. What the Rollins administration failed to realize is that the commuters for UCF travel surrounded by 2 tons of steel, air bags, traction control, and crumple zones. Rollins commuters have their skin and clothes as armor.
I applaud the public grade level schools, the University of Central Florida, and any business which did close in the name of safety for the people they were responsible. To Rollins College, I believe that you are truly lucky that nobody got hurt on your campus considering you took no apparent precautions against it.
J. Wegleitner
UCF Student