On February 13, Toronto experienced an intense snowstorm. Sidewalks were unwalkable, and transit was in chaos — as a result, students trying to get to class were left scrambling. 

The day after the storm, I visited a local walk-in clinic and saw the impact firsthand. Several people in the waiting room were suffering from ankle and foot injuries caused by slipping on the ice. Despite these treacherous conditions, UTSG remained fully open, while UTM shut down completely and UTSC cancelled morning classes. 

I believe this decision left thousands of commuter students, many traveling from across the GTA, in a difficult position. Either they risked their safety to get to class, or they stayed home and hoped their professors would be understanding — an uncertainty that is often a gamble in my experience. 

Why did UTSG remain fully open while other campuses received partial or full closures? I think this decision highlights a fundamental problem: the university’s failure to prioritize commuter students’ safety. 

Commuter students are being left behind 

I assume that UTSG chose to remain open during the storm because of its public transportation access downtown, but that does not mean all students have the same ability to navigate Toronto safely. I believe the university operates under the assumption that everyone has a smooth and accessible commute, but the reality is that a significant portion of students rely on long and unpredictable transit routes to get to class. 

It seems to me like the university fails to acknowledge how extreme weather can disproportionately impact students who live farther away or have mobility challenges. If over 55 per cent of U of T students are commuters, then why does the administration assume that most students can simply walk to class from their campus residence? 

The burden of safety should not be on students 

The university’s Planning & Policy section on the Vice-President & Provost’s website states that when campuses remain open in bad weather, students should “discuss alternate arrangements” with their instructors if they feel unsafe traveling to class. I think this policy unfairly shifts responsibility onto students rather than addressing the systemic issue: if conditions are dangerous enough to cause commute issues, why are UTSG students expected to figure things out on their own? 

This approach also assumes that professors will be flexible with commuting issues, but in reality, some instructors are more accommodating than others.  

Crystal Butler — a second-year master’s student at the Munk School of Global Affairs — noted in an interview with The Varsity that, “I can’t say for certain that, given TTC delays, that my professor would be so forgiving as the onus would have likely been on me to leave earlier to meet the necessary time for the assessment.” 

Fourth-year computer science and economics student Percy Phan echoed this concern. These issues can be difficult, particularly for large lecture-based courses. Phan explained, “In my experience, professors often have strict policies about assessments, and there is less flexibility for rescheduling exams due to non-medical issues.”  

If a professor penalized a student for missing an exam due to unsafe transit conditions, would the administration step in? I doubt it. At least from my own experience, the administration wouldn’t, since it is university policy not to call off classes or exams without an announcement from the U of T administration. But it shouldn’t take a serious injury or illness for students to be granted basic flexibility. 

What needs to change? 

I think U of T needs to fundamentally rethink how it approaches its extreme weather policies, particularly for UTSG’s commuter population. While I’m not saying UTSG should have been completely shut down on February 13, I do believe students should have been given more options and accommodations.  

I also believe the university needs to redefine what ‘adverse weather conditions’ means. Commuter students and their specific challenges — unreliable transit, unshoveled sidewalks, and increased safety risks — should be factored into the university’s policies. 

Finally, I think there should be a mandatory policy requiring professors to accommodate students in extreme weather. The current policy leaves too much to individual professors’ discretion, which can create inequities between students who have flexible professors and those who don’t. The university must make it clear that no student should have to risk their safety to meet an arbitrary attendance requirement. 

I love that U of T is an academically rigorous institution, but rigor should not come at the expense of student safety. It’s not about shutting down the campus every time it snows, it’s about making sure students aren’t penalized if they can’t safely attend class. 

Until U of T recognizes that weather affects students differently depending on where they live, the same cycle will continue: commuter students will be left stranded, stressed, and scrambling to prove they deserve accommodations they should have been given from the start. 

Mishaal Sabir is a fourth-year student at University College studying political science, criminology and socio-legal studies, and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations.