It’s been four days since Winter Storm Jonas left and yesterday, contractors were out as early as 6 a.m., plowing snow and clearing the walkways of Morgan View for students returning to class Thursday morning.

The off-campus student apartments are responsible for housing at least 800 Morgan students, but only 150 residents were on the property during the blizzard. The biggest problem they seemed to face was being able to get around the thick blanket of snow which left the community almost unrecognizable.

“As far as the plowing situation, a lot of residents were a little upset and they have the right to be,” said Leasing Manager Stanley Malivert. “The contractors were supposed to have been out here since Saturday, but due to the traveling and not being able to drive through the snow, they weren’t here in adequate time to actually clean out the parking lots and the sidewalks as well.”

According to Morgan View’s General Manager, Kimberly Collins, the contractors attended to the property as soon as they could.

“They said they had to wait until the storm stopped and because of the amount of snow, it probably wouldn’t get plowed until Wednesday” Collins said. “There was no sense in pre-treating because once temperatures drop that low, putting down salt is no good.”

The contractors also had to make sure snow was cleared from the hospitals before coming to Morgan View, a concept that Collins said many students don’t understand.

“I feel like Morgan View did a terrible job. I just feel like they could’ve done a better job preparing for the snow, but then again, stuff happens” said senior, Kahson Bounds, “I’m paying like $4000 a semester, so I figure they should be able to clean the side walk.”

Despite the rough weekend and following days, most students are keeping their spirits high as the contractors continue to clean the community. Now that the commute is a bit more bearable, some residents were seen Tuesday afternoon returning to their daily routines like exercising at the Morgan View Fitness Center and grabbing a bite to eat from the Bear’s Den. However, parking is still a big concern for most students.

“It’s like the plow came in and pushed all the snow against all the cars that were parked there, so you’re trapped in there, you’re literally trapped in there,” said senior Kyara Kelly. “So I feel like they could’ve handled that a little better. I understand why the walkways took so long to get clear but parking is definitely very dangerous.”

In response, Morgan View officials have already established a plan to deal with parking, bringing in contractors to clear the parking lot from 12 – 6 p.m. today.

In the meantime, extra shovels are being ordered and will be rented out to students whose cars are still buried under the snow.

The tow-free period will be extended until at least February 10^th, which will give students without parking decals more time to shovel out and move their cars to avoid being towed.