Spring Break
URI Lands, Grounds Department claims ice problem won't melt away until university obtains sufficient equipment
Hilary Brady
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: News
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With the recent snowstorms in the past few weeks, and more pending, students have grown concerned over the ice-covered sidewalks and pathways around campus.
"The campus is an entire sheet of ice," senior Gregg Travis said. "I've fallen on campus four times in two weeks."
For students with physical disabilities, however, the walk to class has become even more problematic.
"Accessible entrances have been cleared, but there is no path to them," Krista Simone, president of Students for a More Accessible Campus (SFAMAC,) said.
"The ice has been difficult for everyone - in general though, what is difficult and treacherous for a non-disabled person, becomes impossible or impassable for a person with a disability," Pamela Rohland, director of Disability Services for Students, said.
As a result of the snow and ice accumulation, many students have been injured while attempting to get around campus.
"In the last week, we have taken nine X-rays where the patient had fallen on ice, both on and off campus," said Chad Henderson, director of Health Services, in an e-mail interview. "I believe most, if not all were negative, [meaning] a sprain but no break."
Students are not the only ones struggling to get across the icy campus. Faculty, too, have been affected.
"I have had the very uncomfortable experience of slipping on the icy sidewalks and roads on campus on more than one occasion over the past month," Bahram Nassersharif, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, said.
For some, the consequences have been greater than a simple slip or sprain.
"There was an ambulance response to Green Hall several weeks ago where a staff member had fallen and broken a bone," Henderson said.
While the snowfall has created difficulties for students, it also poses problems to the URI staff working to plow and de-ice the campus.
