On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the decision was made to shut down the college at 5 p.m. due to incoming winter weather.

The issue is, the winter weather didn’t materialize until much later that night.

Although the caution shown by our college is laud able, the early closing deprived students of the opportunity to take advantage of the college’s services before losing time to snow days.

The argument in favor of the college’s decision is that it allowed students and profes- sors to head home before the weather hit.

But with the schedule already off because of the week lost to the last snowstorm, professors and students could have used the extra time to get caught up before losing even more time.

And the decision also assumes that the college is solely responsible for the safety and health of its students and staff.

Students who needed the time to work in labs, talk to professors, use the library, or just plain go to class were denied that opportunity.

Wouldn’t a better choice have been to release the students and professors to make their own choices? After all, we‘re all adults here.

And I think the decision to go or stay should rest with individuals, not the college.