Sitting in the Colvard Student Union, I look down to my phone to see a message from Maroon Alert, the emergency notification system for students at Mississippi State University. I think to myself, "Aw yeah, this is the message I've been waiting for all day." The message reads "Due to potentially hazardous road conditions, the university will be closed." Right after reading this beautiful, beautiful message, I hear several people scream and see several others jump around and break out in dance. This is the message we were all hoping for. This, however, wasn't quite what we all expected.

Seeing news reports of 100% snowfall and wind chills well below freezing for several days brought promise for actual, real live snow for Starkville, which hasn't seen snow in quite a while. Many people, including me, stayed up until 2 am, the time the aforementioned promised snowfall would supposedly begin. Excited, I and a few other friends run outside only to be caught in some nasty rainfall. Still hopeful for snow, we go to bed, dreaming of at least half an inch of snow covering the ground when we wake up.

So, we all go to bed and wake up several hours later, still looking forward to snow covering the grass outside. We run outside again, but this time nothing is happening. It is not cold, it is not raining, and it is certainly not snowing. Why did we get out of school? Why are the library, Colvard Union Food Court, several of the POD (Provisions on Demand) locations, and the gym closed? Turns out there were a few reasons. Apparently, a lot of hard decision-making and factors go into deciding to close an entire school.

Firstly, the geographical location of the school is important. Had Mississippi State, for some odd reason, been located in Minnesota, a state that receives a lot of snow, chances are the school would not be closed. School systems and cities farther north are better prepared and well-equipped for snowy conditions, as they have salt trucks and snow plows to clear the roads. Mississippi, however, rarely receives snow and isn't well prepared to unfreeze roads for commuters.

Secondly, according to CNN, closures can be costly, which is why so much thought and effort goes into a school closing. Superintendents normally wake up very early in the morning (around 3-4am) to meet with other administrators and make the decision to close school depending on the forecast of the day. Closing a school, especially a university, can lose tons of money by shutting down the food court and many of the money-making centers on campus, so administrators think long and hard before coming to a decision.

Finally, an obvious concern, the safety of the students. The American Association of School Administrators makes it very clear that a superintendent/ administrator's first priority when making a decision such as a school closing should be students' safety. Considering a bunch of 19-22 year-olds would be driving to campus from surrounding areas, this most likely made a large impact on Mississippi State's decision to close school on Tuesday.

Now that we know why and how the decision was made to close Mississippi State's campus on Tuesday, maybe next time we will actually see some snow!