By: Ashley Cerasaro
Graduate student in journalism and electronic media

I am extremely disappointed in the way the University of Tennessee handled the icy weather conditions on Tuesday morning. Although a 2-hour delay was issued, an e-mail informing faculty, staff and students was not sent until 8:23. The first class assembles at 8:10 on Tuesday mornings.

The university should have been closed. The chief deputy from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, along with spokespeople from both the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Rural Metro, were live on WATE Channel 6 urging local residents to avoid travel.

The Knoxville Police Department said 50 to 75 accidents were occurring per hour, and by 10 a.m., they had 200 crashes on record.

KPD was also responding to calls about individuals slipping with minor injuries. My neighbor, unaware that UT was on a delay, slipped while walking to her vehicle and blacked out. She was unresponsive for two minutes.

UT should have given emergency personnel the time and space they requested to clean up the roads and not put the safety of their faculty, staff and students at risk.