Features Editor
Several students were hospitalized for severe heat exhaustion and starvation after last week’s emergency alert sent most of campus in a frenzy.
The alert sent out by the National Weather Service late April 7 stated, “Blizzard Warning this area till 12:00 AM MDT Wed. Prepare. Avoid Travel. Check media.”
Immediately following this warning, vending machines began to empty, and stock on nearby convenience store shelves dwindled. With 48 hours of possible severe blizzarding, students thought that they must be prepared.
“Growing up in Wyoming, I was always taught to be prepared,” Wyoming transfer student Cappy Hoeselman said. “So I knew right away I needed to get some food and get it fast, just in case it was serious.”
Hoeselman was one of the lucky freshman to escape injury during the false alarm. Several others were not as lucky and were admitted to nearby Community Hospital for dehydration and starvation issues beginning early Tuesday morning. Students were afraid to leave their rooms. Many covered their windows with heavy blankets and pillows to retain heat and were not able to see the mild temperatures outside.
An exact number is not clear, but somewhere between 12 and 38 students were hospitalized after RAs found them passed out from lack of nourishment during routine room checks.
There was also a staggering number of students that had to be hospitalized during class for heat exhaustion.
“I had three students pass out in one class period alone,” Mass Communication Professor Dan Flenniken said. “Myself and several of the other students tried to tell them it wasn’t cold outside, just cloudy. But they wouldn’t listen.”
Some students took the advice of their advisor and peers and shed the extra layers. Others, however, were a little more weary.
“Siri said it was going to blizzard, and I believed her,” freshman Tarran Witte said. “I believed her.”
Witte was one of the many unfortunate victims that was treated and released. Some people blame the gross misreporting from the NWS for the injuries. Others blame smart phones, but those with reason went to the main culprit herself.
“While CMU escaped this tragedy with minor fainting and heavy perspiration, let this be a lesson to us all that mother nature can strike anywhere at any time and change on a dime,” President Tim Foster said. “GJ blizzard, 2013. Always remember.”
(Some Bull is a satire piece. Quotes and stories are not real.)
tfife@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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