The Intelligence Estimate

We had our first measurable snowfall today here in the Chicagoland area. Not much really, just enough to make things sloppy. Walking home from the train tonight I got to thinking about how they used to clear the sidewalks at school when I was in college.

I went to Iowa State University, a school known for its top rate engineering program. A lot of national merit scholars went there. There is a really great computer science program there as well. So there is no shortage of brain power on this campus...it apparently just doesn't seep into management or administration.

ISU never cancelled classes for snow no matter HOW bad it got. Conversely, they never shovelled the snow from the sidewalks until it had stopped snowing and the sun had come out. (Apparently the students are from a heartier stock than the maintenance crews.) In actuality, they never really shovelled at all. They used a small tractor with a whirling broom on the front of it. This was supposed to sweep the snow into drifts at the side of the sidewalk, and it may have worked if they ever did it in time. However because classes were never cancelled they always waited to sweep the snow until after all the student had tramped the snow into a thick sheet of ice. Well, by that time the crews got to those ice sheets with their brooms all they really did was polish the ice to a fine mirror-like sheen the same way a Zamboni does at an ice rink. I think this was done so that as you fall to your first collegiate concussion you have a clear picture of how rediculous you look. That way when you come to in the Student Health office your first instinct is to laugh at the absurdity of that face rather than to sue the college for negligence.