As I trudged through the snow and up icy stairs during the blizzard two weeks ago, I wondered how expensive snow-clearing salt was. I found out just before the next snowstorm when I went to Home Depot and purchased some. The answer is $7 for a 40 lb. bag.
Answering this question just filled me with more questions, like, “If I can buy 40 lbs. of salt to clear snow off Duke’s property, why can’t Duke?” This question echoed through my head when I salted my own stairwell as the snow fell for the second time in as many weeks. During the first snowfall, a trip to 2011 Yearby J was a death-defying trek where it was literally impossible to walk on the concrete part of the stairs—it was all ice, all the way up. Without gripping the handrails and praying, you’d surely crack your head. During the second snowfall, the salt kept the stairwell snowless.
I have a lot of salt left, if anyone would like to buy it. About $6.75 worth, meaning I really only needed 25 cents to remove that perilous snow and ice. If Central Campus Council or Residence Life and Housing Services would be willing to refund the, say, 22 cents of public good I provided to the residents of 2011 Yearby, that would be much appreciated as well. After all, Duke is the landlord here. If we’re rent-paying tenants, the landlord shouldn’t make us maintain its property.
And if I could make a recommendation to whoever would be in charge of Duke groundskeeping in the event of another snowfall: Please spring for the salt and labor to lay that salt the next time it snows. If you absolutely can’t afford the $7, then you absolutely should not make us risk paralysis on icy stairwells to come to class. Either way, never make me do your job again.
Jared Blau
Trinity ’10
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