Snowmageddon took more than school days from AU. Late Wednesday morning, the high winds and heavy snow brought down a part of the walkway canopy adjacent to Mary Graydon Center. The collapse of the year-old awning left a pile of twisted metal and broken glass strewn across a section of campus that typically sees a high volume of student traffic. Although there were no injuries, one would hope that AU’s administration will do what it takes to treat this as a lesson and take measures to avoid a similar disaster in the future.
For the most part, minimal blame can be attributed to the university for the incident itself. Weather is uncontrollable, and regardless, the canopy fell during conditions that were within its structural limits. As a result, insurance will cover damage to the campus and finance a replacement structure.
Unfortunately, the AU administration has allowed its minimal culpability to muddle its response to the incident. President Neil Kerwin’s e-mail to the AU community seemed to downplay the seriousness of the structural collapse, limiting discussion to a one-line reference. In addition, one would be hard-pressed to find a mention of the incident on the AU Web site.
It is disheartening to see such insincere spin applied to an incident that narrowly escaped disaster. Regardless of the weather, it is pure luck that a student was not exiting MGC at the time of the collapse. All that separated this eye-roll of a structural failure from being a tragedy: sheer chance. Some may brush this notion off as a mere what if. Nevertheless, it would not hurt AU to express a little more regret over the dangerous collapse of a project that consumed quite a bit of time and money.
One would hope that the university would attempt to speed its cleanup process. Five days after the cave in, the deformed and shattered canopy remains in full view of the quad. With each prospective student tour that walks by MGC, AU’s reputation as an efficient school that makes safe and responsible decisions with its students’ money takes a bit of a dive. What parent would want to send their child to a school where structures on the main quad collapse? While this perception of our school may not be accurate, it is hard to refute as long as the wreckage remains undisturbed.
It would be a shame if the response to the canopy failure ultimately overshadows AU’s otherwise impressive handling of Snowmageddon. Both TDR and the Eagle’s Nest were kept open thanks to the dedication of Bon Appétit workers. The Eagle extends the deepest gratitude to all of the workers who stayed in hotels, separated from their families throughout the storm. Thanks to their commitment and the competence of AU officials, our university ran relatively smoothly.
Still, if the school wants to claim to be completely effective, its response to the MGC canopy collapse needs to noticeably improve. Besides clearing out the debris, AU must invest in a stronger structure for the future canopy, replacing not only the collapsed section, but also the entire structure. If not, officials will continue to be playing a risky game of chance. And while luck may have favored AU last week, fortune is infamously fickle.
