Snow Proves Problematic for Injured Students and Faculty

“You don’t need a lesson in physics to understand that vehicle stopping distances have increased on the slippery roads,” Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove stated in an email a few weeks ago, advising students to be careful when crossing the ice-covered roads. This winter, snow has fallen in record-breaking amounts across New England. The campus has already received over six feet of snow between the continual blizzards and storms, and the pathways have disappeared under layers of snow and ice. As Exonians trek across the snowy campus, the concerns for those injured or disabled have increased significantly.Some of the most adversely affected by the harsh weather conditions include permanently disabled members of the community. The weather hinders their movement around campus and, for those injured, can increase both recovery time and the odds of reaggravation. The icy paths also discharge the use of walking-aids such as crutches and boots.Upper Meghan Tanguay has suffered from tendinitis since her prep year. This winter, her inflamed muscles were provoked once again, making it difficult for her to walk to class or workout in gym. “It’s definitely more painful now than it was in the fall because it is easier to slip and slide,” she said.

“We’ve never had this much snow and, while we haven’t quite run out of places to put the snow, it has still been a challenge to find a place to keep it out of the way,”

Lower Grace Duisberg has dealt with a situation similar to that of Tanguay, as she sprained her right ankle during the middle of the winter. She feels her cast is “awkward” and “doesn’t have a lot of tread,” a complication only worsened by the snow. While she is glad her injury is not serious enough to require crutches, she has also watched others struggle with them.Even students without injury have felt an increased number of difficulties through the winter. Before Duisberg was injured, she faced the difficulty, as a day student, of getting to campus through the harsh blizzards. In fact, she felt these problems were more frustrating than her injury since, to avoid any additional problems with her ankle, she could simply “stay inside.”Like Duisberg suggested, Dean of Students Melissa Mischke felt students should take extra precautions such as staying inside when possible or dressing adequately for the outside weather. While Mischke has not noticed a significant increase in on-campus injuries, she believes the responsibility is partially on students to take care of themselves.“The biggest thing is to be careful walking around campus and to be sure that you know where you are going and have the right clothing,” Mischke said.Mischke also felt it was important for students to pay more attention when entering crosswalks, as the icy roads reduce a car’s ability to slow down.Despite taking extra precautions, some students believe injuries are impossible to avoid. Lower Miles Haigney fractured his tibia playing box-lacrosse and now relies on crutches to get around. He believes athletic injuries are inevitable and encouraged the school to think of different ways to accommodate injuries instead of focusing on how to prevent them. For example, the health center provided Haigney with crutches with attachable spikes at the end to help him traverse icy paths and give him better grip. While this improvement was helpful at first, Haigney no longer uses his spikes because they are “too fragile to come into excessive contact with the floor,” and Haigney felt “annoyed” at having to constantly remove them as he entered any building.One way to avoid Haigney’s issue would be to keep the paths clear—a goal the school strives to meet. Senior Facilities Administrator Anita Bailey explained that this task has always been a priority. However, Bailey feels that the sheer quantity of snow this year makes the task seem impossible.“We’ve never had this much snow and, while we haven’t quite run out of places to put the snow, it has still been a challenge to find a place to keep it out of the way,” she said. “We even hired an outside contractor to help us.”To navigate across campus, students also have the option of calling campus safety for a ride. While Tanguay believes this is a great option, she feels vehicle-assistance is too limited to become a widespread solution.“Unless they want to start giving everyone golf carts, I think it’s just a problem that comes with going to a prep school like this where you have to walk around outside a lot,” she said.Haigney agreed with Tanguay. He believes it is more effective for the school to help injured students by just treating them with more leniency. While Haigney has found that his teachers are understanding if he walks into class late, some of his friends in the past have been threatened with dickeys after showing up three to four minutes into class while on crutches.“Making sure that all teachers are aware of the difficulties of being injured, or even making an Academy policy where teachers must be more understanding to students who have a harder time getting to class, would help solve a lot of the problems,” he said.But both Haigney and Tanguay agreed that despite these minor issues, the school has tried its hardest to keep paths clear—especially facility staff, who have worked day and night to help clear the snow. Both expressed thanks toward the staff members who have put in so much hard work to keep the campus running as smoothly as possible.Dean of Faculty Ronald Kim, who tore his achilles tendon this fall, also extended his appreciation to the Exeter community on how well he was treated during his recovery.“Vi Richter gave me a large knitted sock to wear over my exposed toes,” he said. “Students offered to carry food in the dining hall for me. Facilities let me use a golf cart in the fall term, and Ally Grounds and Charlotte Sununu even made it look good. Everyone at Exeter was very kind.”