Southern University officials issued a shelter-in-place for students, staff and faculty Monday morning after severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. Strong winds downed trees, and rain caused heavy flooding on roads surrounding residential areas, stranding some students in their residence halls.
Louisiana State University cancelled its classes for the day in the early morning, with high water and felled trees across the campus. Some students reported seeing up to two feet of water in some areas. Various debris forced some roads to be shut down while nearly 20,000 residents of East Baton Rouge were without power. Entergy acknowledged that some power outages might not be resolved until this morning.
Despite the severity of the weather and the notice for students to immediately seek shelter, Chancellor Flandus McClinton sent emails to students, advising them to take caution, but notifying them in bold, capital letters that classes were in fact not cancelled. Many students took to social media in response to the announcement, sharing their displeasure at being expected to reach classes in such conditions. Many memes were created, some with pictures of people in boats, with the caption “On my way to Mayberry”, others asking whether or not food would be delivered to the residential area.
Classes were cancelled early in the afternoon, a result of the unsafe traveling conditions created by the weather.
Jordan Dukes, a junior Electrical Engineering major felt students should not have been urged to attend classes in such severe weather conditions.
“I felt that for a minute, Southern didn’t take a second to think of the severity of the weather, and the fact that people’s lives were at risk,” said Dukes, who also felt that the quality of communication between administration and the student body could have been improved, along with the way the situation was handled.
“I think Southern should take the time to implement a working system for situations such as this, for future reference,” added Dukes. “Southern may have one, but as a student I should be more aware, just in case.”
Dean of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Marcus Coleman said his first thought as an administrator was for the safety of the students on campus. When the storm and tornado warning was first issued, Coleman took it upon himself to patrol the outside of the student union, warning and ushering students indoors. Addressing the concerns of students in regards to the cancellation of classes, Coleman said,
“Even though students received a message saying that classes were still going on, that same message also said shelter in place,” said Coleman. “Students had no reason to be outside. If you see it’s pouring down raining and there are black clouds, you just don’t come outside.” Coleman finished.
Chancellor McClinton was unavailable for comment.
Classes are scheduled to resume today at 8 a.m.
Southern university students trek through one of many locations scattered with fallen tree limbs and leaves on campus.
