As a tuition-paying Mizzou student, I am thoroughly disgusted with the lack of concern by the University for my safety and the safety of my fellow classmates.  We expect and deserve much better than what has happened today.  Actually, the issue is what _hasn’t_ happened today, and I find it extremely troubling.

I have yet to receive an email from anyone regarding the severity of the weather today or class cancellations.  The only way I heard about classes _finally_ being canceled was a Facebook post.  All classes should have been canceled either last night or very early this morning.  No one should be out on those roads, but many students (including myself) made the trek to campus this morning to make it to class.  Once on campus, many of us discovered that professors were canceling their classes at the last minute.  By this time, the weather had become even worse, and we all had to start making our way back home, if that was even possible.  Buses stopped running, the roads were becoming packed with snow, multiple wrecks and stranded cars plagued the roads, the snow continued to get worse, the governor declared a state of emergency and still no word from MU.

Deciding to cancel classes at noon displays a failure of leadership, a failure to make a command decision and a lack of concern for Mizzou students.  The statement that was put out this morning baffles me.  How can MU say that weather predictions were “indicating snowfall amounts that we will be able to handle effectively”?  I was watching all of the news stations this morning at 7 a.m. and they were all telling their viewers to _stay put_.  They were all saying that a massive winter storm was about to hit us and that we shouldn’t leave our homes.  What made MU think that it could handle this???

I have been failed by my own school.  I am very disappointed in the lack of leadership displayed today.  Trying to get back home from campus was a nightmare and extremely dangerous.  And yet I still saw people heading towards campus attempting to make it to their classes.  This is unacceptable.  As I said before, we deserve better.

**Austin James**
**amjrkb@mail.missouri.edu**