After the Olympics end and classes resume in March, Olympic involvement for the U will be far from over.
Salt Lake City is still responsible to host the Paralympic Games, a series of competitive events among disabled athletes from around the world. Heritage Commons will still house athletes, and Rice-Eccles Stadium will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies.
On March 7, a Thursday currently scheduled as a regular instruction day, the Paralympic Opening Ceremony will potentially cause major traffic and parking problems.
In order to address these problems, the administration is considering canceling classes March 7. U officials are looking for input to make an informed decision, which they hope to make within five days.
On Thursday, the Undergraduate Council discussed this matter. Classes that only meet once a week, lab classes, student alienation and the U’s obligation to the Paralympic Games all surfaced as concerns during this discussion.
The Olympic coordinators have long anticipated March 7 as a difficult day for campus traffic, but recently, they have found out more about the traffic demands of the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.
“We saw all the pieces coming together,” said Wayne McCormack, the Olympic Coordinator at the U. “The last piece that came in was the route for busing the village residents down to the stadium.”
The bus route for the Paralympians will require parts of Fifth South to close at 3 p.m., which will cause major traffic problems during the afternoon for employees and students trying to leave the U. The Paralympic Opening Ceremony will also require equipment shipped to the stadium that day, further adding to the traffic problems.
One of the most discussed solutions was to hold morning and early afternoon classes but to cancel late afternoon and evening classes. The council also thought about sending the staff home at noon. Shutting down the campus for that entire day also surfaced as an option, although McCormack does not think that will be necessary. “I don’t see much reason for that,” he said. “Not on the basis of what we know now.”
John Francis, associate vice president for academic affairs, identified two concerns U officials will try to address as they make a decision. Francis wants to ensure that students can take classes with a reasonable hope of being able to park and get to them, but he also acknowledges the U’s obligation to the Paralympic Games.
“We won’t meet all of our educational needs, but we have an obligation to the Paralympians as well,” he said. “I like some combination of holding classes in the morning and early afternoon and releasing students in the early afternoon and evening. The more people we can release in the day, the easier.”
The U learned of the traffic problems associated with the Paralympic Games only recently, which is why they are now discussing what to do to solve them.
“We always knew it was going to be a challenge,” Francis said. “We didn’t know the dimensions of it.”