To the Editor:

I found myself walking across campus this morning, Tuesday the 28th, on sidewalks that have inches of ice caked upon them.

I walked upon similarly glazed sidewalks Monday, but we were still in mid-storm.

It was still disturbing however, that on Monday all that could be seen of safety measures was a giant sweeper buffing the ice and snow into an olympic figure skating sheen.

If nothing is going to be done, i.e. salt and sand and shovels, to clear the walks and make them safe, for (god’s sake don’t buff the damn things!) In the absence of any maintenance the only traction available is the snow.

It wasn’t excusable yesterday, and today, nearly twenty-four hours after the cessation of hostilities by mother nature, it is abhorrent that we are walking on sheets of ice.

I am personally aware of a fall caused by the ice last winter, that has apparently not opened anyone’s eyes to the need for better care of the walks and steps around campus.

I’m certain that the maintenance department is working at full capacity, and therefore that capacity must be inadequate to the university’s needs. Why then are the Department of Public Safety employees not pitching in? This is a safety issue, and yet the little trucks and cars are still stalking the streets and lots looking for illegally parked vehicles.

Why isn’t the university augmenting its maintenance crew with this added resource? I suspect that a university so financially concerned would recognized that each time a person falls on the ice, a law suit may be pending which will cost far more than a day’s parking ticket revenue.

I am also confident that more people are injured due to unsafe walkways than by illegally parked cars.

So get the pseudo-cops out of their cars, get the parking division to park their trucks, give them all some shovels and buckets of sand and deal with a safety issue.

Josh Johanningmeier

Graduate Assistant

Political Science