Ice Ice Baby: Trinity Needs to Clean Up After a Storm

Samuel Taishoff ’22
Contributing Writer 
Trinity is one of the first and only institutions I have been to where it is not customary to sufficiently sand or salt the walkways following a snow storm or ice storm, and that is an extremely dangerous thing. Speaking from personal experience, I have slipped twice today, the first day back to classes, at various locations around campus. Both of these incidents were not faults of my own, but rather from a lack of safety measures taken by the school. 
The first time I slipped was when I was on my way to my first class of the day and stepped upon some black ice near the Smith residence hall. While the slip was rather embarrassing, I luckily fell into a pile of snow and was not injured. I quickly got back up and made sure nobody saw the embarrassing slip before I continued my day. The day was full of slipping and sliding from class to class which made me wish I had purchased some ice skates, or at least some spikes for my boots. Unfortunately, none of those measures could have prepared me for the second fall I had on the stairs in the concrete jungle close to Jackson. These stairs were completely coated in ice, with no salt, and only a minuscule amount of dirt. Descending them required a level of dexterity and agility that I simply do not possess. While desperately clutching the handrail, I slowly descended the staircase toward the second ice rink that awaited me below. I had made it down to the last stair when I slipped again. I managed to mitigate the damage by holding the handrail tightly, but that slip, as with every slip onto icy brick, could have been disastrous. 
Now, one may be thinking, what kind of idiot cannot walk on ice? The answer seems to be a good portion of Trinity students. As I made my way to my first classes of the new semester, I saw many people slipping and nearly falling. While I did not spot anyone else falling, I do not doubt for an instant that some did. It is a miracle that nobody broke any bones or tore any muscles on that horrid day. However, if someone did, Trinity could most certainly be proven liable for not taking the proper precautions to salt and sand the campus. I did notice some, but very little, dirt covering the more well traversed parts of campus. But as for my friends in North Campus and for myself in the concrete jungle, there seemed to be little to no effort made to clear the ice or provide a proper walkway for students.
All of this raises the important question, does Trinity care more about their student’s safety or saving a couple hundred bucks? As of right now, and from what I have heard from upperclassmen, the answer seems to be the latter. The walkways of Trinity’s campus are, apparently, very sparsely salted or sanded. I strongly encourage Trinity to consider making a small investment in their students’ safety and well being and to begin more heavily salting or laying down sand after any snowstorm. A campus covered in ice is not a campus at all. It is a hockey rink. Without adequate salt and sand Trinity continues to look like the day after tomorrow.