Canceled classes and more than 13 inches of snow left few options for students.
Some of those viable options for students were the available open gyms, weight rooms, racquetball courts, basketball courts and other activities, thanks to Ball State University's Recreational Services.
"We are an essential service for the university and are required to be opened," Dan Byrnes, director of Sports Facilities and Recreation Services, said. "We are here and opened up this morning on time, and we will be here until 1 a.m."
All facilities, including Lewellen Pool, Irving Gym and the Field Sports Building, will remain open. However, all instructional programs and intramural sports were canceled Tuesday.
"It's not just about people on campus who have to play those," Byrnes said. "[Students] paid for [the instructional programs and intramural sports] and we feel obligated to delay them."
There were slightly fewer people than normal at Irving Gym Tuesday morning. There will not be a count of how many people went to Irving Gym Tuesday until the end of the night when the card swipes are tallied, Byrnes said.
Despite the low numbers, some students who live on campus were still able to go to Irving Gym after classes were canceled.
"I'm a little bit surprised," freshman Jeff Batesole said. "There really aren't many people in the racquetball courts, but there have been a lot of people in the field house."
Batesole said he came to play racquetball with his friend, freshman Tyler Jackson. They usually go to Irving Gym for approximately three hours a day, Jackson said.
"We play racquetball a lot, and we didn't have any work to do, so we trudged here," Batesole said.
Freshmen Mark Skertich and Jeff Blankfield also went to Irving Gym to play racquetball and basketball and lift weights. Skertich said there was not much to do in the residence halls, so they went to Irving Gym.
"We didn't think that we were going to come today but we decided we had nothing else to do today besides sleep," Blankfield said. "So we came here just hoping to get a workout by ourselves."
Rec Services watched the weather reports and began planning for the chance that classes would be canceled a few days ago, Byrnes said.
"It gives people something to do," Byrnes said.
One employee wasn't able to make it in to work, Byrnes said. There were plenty of workers at Rec Services because student employees don't have class today, he said.
Batesole and Blankfield said they plan on going to Irving Gym Wednesday if classes are canceled.
"Hopefully we can get a snow day [Wednesday], because I can come here and have another workout," Blankfield said.
Byrnes said that the Rec Services employees know they are providing an essential service for the university. Irving Gym will remain open throughout the snowstorm.
"We're happy to do it and it's pretty reasonable for us to do it," Byrnes said.
Vinnie Lopes contributed to this story.
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