“The lasting value of my Capstone will be the knowledge and experience I gained in supporting such growth and development in my students through the project.”
Courtney Bodine, Graphic Design major
There are primarily two issues that are considered in making a decision about closing the college.
- Are the students in residence, and
- Can we make the college's facilities (particularly the parking lots) accessible to off campus students and personnel.
The college can only truly be closed when the students are not in residence. Otherwise, we have to provide basic services. Safety, Facilities, Food Service and Baird Health must all continue to provide services. All the employees in these areas face the same safety and logistical problems as our other employees. We believe that continuing the normal daily activity as much as possible is the most responsible way to meet our obligations to our students.
In those unusual instances when we do have to close the college due to inclement weather that decision needs to be made by 5:30 a.m. based on available information at that time. We then notify the local radio and TV stations, and put a “closing message” on the greeting on the college's voicemail (usually between 6:00 and 6:30 AM). If you call the college after those times, and do not hear such a message, then assume the college is open as usual and make your own decisions about your ability to get to work. The college's main switchboard number (526-3000) can answer 16 calls at once, but expect some “ring, no answer” time until a line clears, or if the college is without power.
Considerations and Implications if the college has not been officially "closed" for the day.
Safety Issues: Some of our employees live on roads that are cleared frequently, others live on roads that offer driving challenges and unusual conditions. We trust our employees to use their common sense to make their own travel safety decisions. These are individual decisions. We do not expect chairs or supervisors to make blanket decisions for their departments. We know that our employees do not take unfair advantage of the college's open time policy.
Logistical Issues: In the case of inclement weather, we recognize that the roads you live on, distance from work, the reliability of your plowing services, and daycare concerns due to public school closings all affect your ability to get to work. The college policy does not penalize you for deciding to stay home when adverse weather makes getting to work impractical, provided you notify your supervisor and appropriate colleagues of your situation. Members of the faculty are also responsible for notifying students scheduled for a class during the period they will be absent. You can do this via e-mail or by voice mail.
Business as usual? Probably not! We know that in severe weather conditions, some people can get to work and others can not. We know that the normal schedule of classes, committee meetings, curricular and co-curricular activities may be disrupted. That's OK. We expect our employees to do the best they can. Each individual must decide if it is practical to go ahead with a particular scheduled activity. We do ask that if you are not going to be available during normal business hours, that you change your outgoing voicemail greeting, use the “out of office automatic reply” function on your e-mail, or put a note on your office door so that others know of your availability and/or absence.
