Lou Marcoccia is hardly an indecisive person – he just doesn’t like to say yes.

Along with Vice Chancellor Deborah Freund, Marcoccia, the senior vice president for business, finance and administrative services, decides when Syracuse University cancels class due to snow. But, in over 10 years of holding this power, he’s never utilized it.

It’s not that he hasn’t heard the pleas for a canceled class here or there – he just doesn’t listen to them. Or, more likely, he laughs them off.

‘It’s very difficult to shut down the university because we have a responsibility to the number of students here,’ he said. ‘You can’t shut down. Even if you wanted to, you can’t shut down.’

Not when this many people expect him to keep the school open. Only once in the school’s history has the school actually closed because of snow. And that day, well, that day was an anomaly.

On March 13, 1993, the last Saturday of spring break, the storm began. While students were basking in the glory of sun-filled beaches, nations abroad and downtime at home, the university’s administrators were terrified at the prospects of what was to come. They had seen the weather reports, they had heard the predictions.

At 10 a.m., the first snow fell. A full two days and 42.9 inches later, the last flake finally dropped.

Never before in Syracuse University’s history had the school been forced to shut its doors because of a snow storm. But, then again, never before had the city been hit so heavily with snow.

‘Saturday it was clear to us we weren’t going to be ready for classes on Monday,’ then-Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw said in an interview with The Daily Orange. ‘We looked at: A) Can people get here by car? and B) Is there a place for them to park, and can they get to their buildings?’

Shaw knew the answer to these questions and made his fateful choice. Just 11 days before the 123rd anniversary of the university’s founding date, Shaw and his fellow administrators made the decision to cancel classes because of snowfall; there would be no classes on Monday, March 15.

Of course, SU had seen snow before – and plenty of it. Stories of lake effect storms and the Snow Belt have long struck fear into the hearts of prospective students. It’s become ingrained in the culture.

This storm was different, though. Over three and a half feet fell in the span of a 48-hour time period. Such a snowfall was unprecedented. Monumental, even. The closest comparison, a storm that had blasted the city 27 years earlier, had dropped just .6 fewer inches of snow on the city.

But while the blizzard of ’66 went down in notoriety for having caught the city off guard, Syracuse was ready and waiting for 1993’s whiteout.

‘It was one of the most well-timed blizzards you’ve ever seen,’ said Mary O’Brien, the university’s assistant archivist. ‘The forecasts said it would start at 10, and it started right at 10.’

Despite knowing what was to come, there was little the city and university could do to prepare.

Physical Plant staff members worked 24 hours a day, plowing and shoveling the university’s sidewalks, parking lots and roads. City cleanup crews followed a similar routine – and 40 percent of its plow manpower came via privately contracted plows.

Even the Carrier Dome fell victim to the blizzard. Just a week before it was set to hold first-round action of the NCAA tournament, officials were forced to deflate the roof of the dome on Saturday, fearing that the infrastructure would not be able to hold the weight of the wet, heavy snow. Although the Teflon roof was outfitted with a heating system to counteract such snowfall, the sheer speed at which the flakes fell outpaced the valiant attempts of the warmers. With the Dome out of commission, the men’s lacrosse team, which had stayed on campus through spring break, was without a practice facility for four days.

While the university aimed to have students back in the classroom by Tuesday, many students were scrambling to find a way to return. Highways were closed, airports shut down, trains were delayed and entire bus companies shut down planned shuttle services to the Syracuse area.

‘It was an incredible hassle,’ said Dan Brunner, then a sophomore the Whitman School of Management, in an interview with The Daily Orange at the time.

Brunner, who hoped to beat the storm by leaving his Stamford, Conn., home early on Saturday morning, faced delays at two different train stations before he made it to Syracuse. Though back in the city, Brunner only faced more waiting, as the snowstorm kept many taxi drivers off the road. By Saturday night, though, Brunner was back on campus.

Those who put off their travels until Sunday were not as fortunate. Many, The Daily Orange then reported, had still not returned by Wednesday of that week, when the snow of a second storm began to fall yet again.

‘I believe the headlines read, ‘Syracuse is snow king,” O’Brien said.

Many would argue it still is – although the possibility of future closings seems unlikely.

‘Something very drastic has to come up for such a possibility even to exist,’ Marcoccia said.

If that means acquiring more manpower and more equipment, Marcoccia said, the university will get it.

‘We’re very good at keeping the roads open,’ Marcoccia said. ‘We keep the parking lots and sidewalks clear. We’re more talented and prepared than most people in the country when it comes to snow.’

As an employee for over 30 years at Syracuse University and as an undergraduate student at SU before that, Marcoccia said he can’t envision himself canceling classes because of snow – at least, not until a snowstorm comes along that tops the one and only one to ever shut down the school.

‘It’s not a macho thing,’ he said between laughs. ‘It’s not like we’re trying to keep the winning streak alive.’

Published on February 2, 2005 at 12:00 pm