Most students do a “happy dance” when they find out a class has been canceled due to imminent bad weather or a professor “sick day.”

Usually, students are notified ahead of time of a canceled class, either by email or an in-class announcement.

It would seem that an early notification would be the proper protocol for instructors, as students are always expected to notify professors ahead of time of an absence, usually with the proper documentation such as a doctor’s note or proof of attending a mandatory university event.

The problem is, as students, we do not get the same courtesy by our professors when class is unexpectedly canceled.

Many students drive from locations as far away as Vernon—it is blood-boiling to prepare for the day, drive 40 minutes to campus for one class, only to find out that the class has been canceled for the day.

Granted, most local students do not mind one bit to make the five-minute drive from their homes or take the five-minute walk from the dorms to class to turn right back around.

The bottom line is, when instructors or teaching assistants repeatedly make last-minute cancellations, when do we, as students, speak up?

After all, as much as we all like to bitch and moan about having to attend class on a regular basis—we are the ones paying tuition. At the very least, we should be given the same courtesy of class-cancellation notification, whenever possible.

Tesha Morgan, a sophomore  in social work, feels that the instructors should be held to the same standard, whenever possible, if they need to cancel a class.

“They have a class email list—can they not email and save us the trip?” Morgan said, “I get emergencies, but we are expected to make contact if we are going to miss.”

At the same time, we are not being reimbursed for our gas money to commute to a class that will not be held and some students even regress in their studies and have trouble catching back up when more time than usual has passed between classes.

It is difficult to regain focus and momentum when a math class was missed or canceled, for instance. The same is true in foreign language classes and in other courses that reinforce our knowledge by using repetition strategies.

If students knowingly miss a class without a legitimate excuse, then they ultimately suffer the consequences and are only hurting themselves in regards to their academic progress.

It is not the instructor’s responsibility to make sure all his or her seats are filled each day of class—it’s the student’s responsibility to keep up with the work and stay in touch with the professor. Whatever repercussions follow cannot be blamed on lack of instruction by the professor.

In turn, students should get what they pay for at their university, which includes a warm body of some type, standing-in in an instructor’s absence, at the very least.

With that said—bring on the bad weather days!