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Although Bethel University canceled classes Tuesday as a snowstorm continues to make travel difficult across much of the state, St. Thomas students didn’t see the same results.

Doug Hennes, vice president of university and government relations, said the university didn’t feel the conditions had deteriorated to the point where classes needed to be canceled.

“We monitored the situation closely with our Public Safety department and the predictions were pretty consistent all along,” Hennes said. “We’re going to get 6-10 inches over 24-hour period.”

Hennes said Susan Huber, the university’s executive vice president and chief academic officer who is in charge of making the decision on snow days, checked with the the other Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities schools before making her decision. She found that those universities did not plan on canceling classes either.

Freshman Ana De La Llada is among many St. Thomas students who were unhappy about having school today.

“The plows have been going through and most of the sidewalks are pretty well shoveled,” De La Llada said. “But, I almost fell five times on my way to class.”

Hennes said he knows people like snow days, but called it a “wise decision” not to cancel classes given the conditions of the roads.

“At least from an an undergraduate perspective, two-thirds of the students live either on campus or within walking distance and a lot of the faculty and staff live fairly close by too,” Hennes said.

Senior Kelsey St. Mary was not happy about having class today, but said that she would’ve been even more upset if she were a commuter.

“If I commuted, I wouldn’t come to school today,” St. Mary said. “Especially if you only had one class today. You would probably spend more time in the car than in class.”

Freshman Michelle Pikovsky said she thinks St. Thomas kept class in session because many of the staff and faculty live within close proximity to campus.

But even for professors with short commutes, the heavy snow made travel times much slower than usual. History professor Thomas Mega was surprised that class wasn’t canceled today, and he said his normal 15-minute commute from Roseville took 35 minutes.

“I think having school today was more of an inconvenience for our staff than for our students,” Mega said.

Senior Drew Halvin said he understood the university’s decision to hold classes as usual.

“It’s especially difficult to cancel a Tuesday/Thursday class because missing a class that only meets twice a week throws things off,” Halvin said.

Bethel was one MIAC and Twin Cities area school that did make the decision to shut its doors for the day, something Hennes attributed to the university’s location.

“They’re up in northern Arden Hills, and it’s a little different situation up there than it would be in the city,” Hennes said.

Among the scores of districts that called off classes Tuesday, were an unusually high number of Twin Cities-area districts and tens of thousands of Minnesota high school and elementary school students have the day off. Districts not in session include the northern suburban Anoka-Hennepin district, the largest in Minnesota with 39,000 students.

St. Paul Academy and Summit School, which is located near Grand Avenue and Lexington Parkway, and St. Paul Public Schools are also closed today. Hennes said this is likely because of the school buses having trouble getting around the snow. The College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University issued a two-hour delay.

St. Paul declared a snow emergency beginning at 9 p.m. Tuesday. The city announced that parking will be banned on all plow routes until the streets are plowed full width to the curb, and tagging and towing will begin ahead of the plows immediately at 9 p.m.

The National Weather Service predicts a two-day snow total of 8-12 inches for much of southeastern and east-central Minnesota including the Twin Cities. Forecasters expect the snow to taper off but winds to pick up by afternoon.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation reports difficult driving conditions across a long swath of the state from the northwest to the southeast.

More than two dozen flights have been canceled at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.