Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The recent burst of winter weather in Buffalo wreaked havoc on SUNY Buffalo State, as the campus was forced to cancel classes for much of the week due to struggles with snow cleanup.
After classes were first canceled on Monday, activities resumed on campus on Tuesday, only to be canceled again on Wednesday and Thursday due to, what the college called, ongoing and continued cleanup from the winter storm.
For students who live on campus, the last few days have been difficult navigating through the snow, cold and breezy conditions.
"I feel like it is definitely hard to get around campus. The sidewalks are all covered up with snow, and it is pretty frustrating," said Caleb in an interview with WBEN.
"This sucks. I'm drowning walking through the snow," said Izalaya with WBEN. "They're canceling classes. I came back to go to school, so now I just feel like, 'What am I here for? It's cold.'
Meredith feels the snow not being picked up is especially harmful for students who may have mobility issues.
"I have a friend whose knee has been messed up for a few months now, and him trying to get through the snow has been just ridiculous. They're not picking up where they should, they're not salting where they should," she said with WBEN. "Conditions, especially over the past few days in front of Upton, have been terrible. You have to get up the stairs to Bulger to get down to Upton, which is not great for people who are wheelchair users or have mobility aids, obviously. So it's just rough overall."
For Jaquese, he just got back to Buffalo from his home in Brooklyn a couple days ago after the downstate area was also hammered with snow over the weekend.
"I came back yesterday, because I was supposed to come back on Sunday, but they canceled [my flight]. It's really tough," said Jaquese with WBEN. "It's really hard to shovel out the snow. I was feeling bad, because we have to do a PowerPoint, Brightspace, all that for our professors, getting emails. Then all of that was canceled due to this, and a lot of stuff is happening."
The frustrations have mounted for some students with not just being able to navigate the campus, but also having their time in the classroom cut because of the cancellations.
"It sucks not having classes, because we can't walk in this. But it is what it is," Izalaya said.
"I'm an art ed student, and so I have some classes that are only twice a week because they're studios. I have had my studio for 3D and Design canceled twice, and so my first day in that class will be next week. It's basically pushing back all that development, like, a week. So it's rough," Meredith added.
And it's not just academic work that has been affected with classes being canceled this week at Buffalo State.
"I was looking forward to joining a lot of clubs and stuff this week, so with everything getting canceled, it is pretty frustrating," Caleb said.
Some students struggled to navigate their way through the campus earlier in the week, whether it'd be by foot or by vehicle. Some students had to dig themselves out of the parking lots with their snow brushes because of the snow that fell.
"It's hard trying to park the car, because it's a lot of struggles to get through the snow," Jaquese said. "I'm from the City, and it's been a lot. Schools close due to snow, and then we have to shovel and clean out snow every time. It's really cold, and sometimes I have to take a break and I get tired. It's really frustrating."
Some students have been able to kill some time while waiting for classes to return to session.
"Playing video games on my PC and just writing and stuff like that on my own time," Caleb said.
"There's not much to do, and because it's so cold outside, I can't go take a walk around campus," Meredith added. "At least our dorm has been relatively fine, but I've heard some dorms are without heat right now, so it's an entire thing. It's just rough."
WBEN has reached out to the college for comment on the snow removal issues, but received no response.