The rare class cancellation at the University of Utah creates an immediate sense of confusion as administrators work diligently to let the public know about the situation, while the public searches the correct information.
Vice President for University Relations Fred Esplin spent a good deal of his time Monday contacting media outlets to correct their reports about the half-day campus closure that nixed all morning classes.
U President Bernie Machen decided to halt all lower campus activities after a blizzard covered the campus in so much snow that crews could not plow fast enough. Some reports indicated that well more than two feet of snow hit the U quickly.
After consultation from his vice presidents and the police, Machen decided that, for public safety reasons, the campus would remain closed until noon. That coincided with a National Weather Service forecast of another 10 to 20 inches of snow by midday. That snow didn’t materialize, but Esplin still supports Machen’s decision.
“We avoided a clearly bad situation this morning,” he said.
Machen called for the closure at 9 p.m. Sunday, and shortly after, Esplin and his staff started calling media outlets.
And while most people got the message, “there were kinks in the process of getting the word out,” he said.
The campus doesn’t have a way to email all faculty, staff and students yet, though officials are working on it, and multiple media outlets gave conflicting information, causing confusion at the hospital and other areas on campus.
Union administration knew that many students would not get the message, so they decided to keep regular business hours.
Ryck Luthi, associate union director, saw nearly 500 students walk through the Union in the early morning.
The designated time to reopen campus also caused some bewilderment.
Many classes start at 11:50 a.m., leaving students to guess whether faculty would hold class or not.
Caitlyn Clawson, a first year exercise and sports science student, had a foods and nutrition class start at 11:50 a.m., she decided to sleep in, though it would not surprise her if the professor held class.
“We realized this today,” Esplin said. “When this happens again, we will probably say 11:50 instead of 12. We had a number of people call here this morning.”
The decision to hold class or cancel it ultimately ended up in the faculty members’ hands.
Administrators don’t plan to make up the missed class in any way, rather the professors will have to take care of the missed material in the best way they see fit.
“Some will amalgamate lecture, or have more office hours or give more hand outs,” said John Francis, associate vice president for undergraduate studies.
He equates it to when a faculty member misses class due to illness or another personal situation.
“But now what happens in an individual case is multiplied to everyone,” Francis said.
He said administrators are not considering taking the reading day, scheduled for Dec. 10.
“One of the things we have discovered is that students and faculty want the reading day preserved. If you do give that up, then you lost something,” Francis said.
To streamline the process in case of another campus closure, administrators plan to meet today to discuss procedures.