Students took full advantage of yesterday’s snow day – the second ever in Syracuse University’s long and wintry history.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, SU’s Logistics Committee, comprised of administrators and department chairpersons, decided to cancel all classes and student activities after 12:45 p.m.

Soon after, students were playing football on the Dellplain Hall lawn, sledding down Marshall Street, building forts for snowball fights on the Quad and towing ski-clad friends on the streets off campus.

‘A lot of kids will just stay inside when it gets cold like this,’ said Jenn Horvath, a junior magazine and political science major. ‘But it’s more fun to go out.’

Horvath and nine of her friends were knee-deep in snow on the Dellplain lawn for an hour and a half, playing ‘guys versus girls’ tackle football – a tradition they’ve maintained since freshman year, she said.

The Cancellation Process

The only other time classes were canceled because of snow was Monday, March 15, 1993, after the Syracuse area received more than 43 inches of snow that weekend, said Kevin Morrow, director of SU News Services, in an e-mail. It was the first day of scheduled classes after Spring Break. Administrative offices reopened and classes began the next day.

‘There’s been a lot of snow since 1993, it’s something we try to avoid doing,’ said Chief Financial Officer Louis Marcoccia, who chairs the Logistics Committee. ‘We have a responsibility to keep the campus open.’

The chief factor behind the decision Wednesday was the forecast that the weather was going to worsen in the afternoon, Marcoccia said.

The committee had not heard of any car accidents involving students, faculty or staff on the way to campus Wednesday morning, so it didn’t base its decision on accidents that had occurred, he said.

The only car accident on campus Wednesday was at 9:30 a.m., when a university vehicle backed into a fire hydrant, said Interim Chief Tony Callisto of Public Safety. He hadn’t received reports of accidents faculty had on the commute to and from campus, and there were no cold weather related incidents reported to Public safety.

‘University roadways and sidewalks have been cleared several times since the storm began,’ Morrow said, following the decision to cancel classes. ‘Road conditions in the city and county have been difficult.’

SU Physical Plant had been preparing for the storm – which hit Tuesday night – for two days, Marcoccia said. Though the campus was in good condition Wednesday morning, the committee decided it was in the university’s best interest to cancel afternoon classes and activities.

‘The roads into work were not all that bad,’ Marcoccia said. But on hearing the storm was going to intensify, he said the decision was made to make sure people got home before it worsened.

Supervisors were asked to stagger the release of employees with the intent to have all appropriate staff released by 1 p.m., said Marcoccia, who allowed his secretary to leave. All staff was given the option to stay and work if it wanted.

‘It’s pretty clear we have to make sure that the university, in many respects, stays open, because we’ve got plenty of people who live on campus, use dining halls,’ Marcoccia said.

Centro bus services still ran, but slowed due to the weather. University residence and dining halls, Public Safety and Physical Plant also remained operational.

The SU women’s basketball game against Rutgers University in the Carrier Dome tipped-off at 4 p.m., instead of its originally scheduled time of 7 p.m., and the University Senate meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. to address issues of academic integrity was canceled.

The Call

The 15- to 20- person Logistics Committee met by conference call at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and again at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, when the final decision to cancel afternoon classes was made, Marcoccia said.

Between those meetings, he had phone conversations with Vice Chancellor Eric F. Spina, who also sits on the committee, to determine a course of action.

The committee looked at the university’s class and activity schedules, weather reports from the National Weather Service, local television and radio stations and the Internet to make its decision, according to Marcoccia. Reports often conflicted, so the committee took an average before coming to its decision.

Also important was the method of notifying students before they left for classes, Marcoccia said.

‘There’s really no quick, easy way to let them know that early,’ he said.

The initial message notifying students of canceled classes was distributed in an e-mail at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, but the university’s MyMail system temporarily prevented students from accessing their inboxes.

Ashnah Louis, a freshman policy studies major, and Matt Drew, a junior psychology major, both said they heard about the cancellation from friends.

‘There was a lot of running up and down the hall and screaming,’ said Karl Johnson, a junior mechanical engineering major who was among those playing football on the Dellplain Lawn.

The order to release staff early was initially meant to be handled internally, but was released in the second of three SU News Services e-mail alerts.

The Cleanup

In anticipation of the storm, vehicle fuel tanks and salt stores were filled, and additional grounds staff were assigned to snow removal duties, Morrow said.

At any given time Wednesday, about 100 workers, or half of the total staff, were working to shovel and plow, said Allan Breese, director of Business and Facilities Maintenance Services, which includes SU Physical Plant.

‘It’s a lot of real estate to cover and a lot of dedicated men and women are out there,’ Breese said.

Maintenance Services is responsible for clearing 20 miles of sidewalks and 10 miles of roads, he said.

That number of workers would decrease to about eight during the night, and not pick up again until 3 a.m. today, with a second wave starting at 5 a.m., Breese said.

For snowstorms, workers are typically asked to extend their shifts from eight to 12 hours, Breese said. They’re paid time and a half for the overtime.

Custodial workers, whose usual shifts are from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m., and laborers found at temporary employment agencies were hired to form a staff of about 60 who shoveled sidewalks, Breese said. An additional 30 workers drive the plow trucks.

Rick Gaut, who drove a sidewalk-plowing truck over much of Main Campus on Wednesday, said he enjoys the hard work.

‘I love it,’ he said. ‘This is what New York state is all about.’

Gaut, who began his shift at 3 a.m. Wednesday, said he wasn’t planning to stop until 7 p.m. He took a 15-minute break every two hours to rest his eyes and eat, he said.

‘The more I work, the more I can keep up on my route,’ he said.

Students react differently to the maintenance workers, Gaut said. Some stop to say thanks, but others ‘give the finger.’

‘I was in college once too,’ he said. ‘I know what it’s like to want to get where you’re going.’

The Students

While some students had snowball fights on the Quad and played football in the snowdrifts, others chose to stay out of the cold.

‘I’ll get some work done, and then hang out in the building,’ said Louis, after hearing her three Wednesday afternoon classes were canceled.

Drew said he’d probably just take a nap.

The group playing football in front of Dellplain hadn’t played yet this year, Horvath said.

‘We didn’t have a chance to do it yet,’ she said. ‘You need a good amount of snow to cushion the tackling.’

Johnson, who was also in the game, said he and his friends began the tradition after playing on the Dellplain lawn during their freshman year. Since then, they have moved from Dellplain to Haven Hall, but return to the field after every big snowstorm.

‘This is definitely the most snow that we’ve had for a game, so I’d say this is the best game,’ Johnson said. ‘How often do you get 2 feet of snow in one night?’

Published on February 14, 2007 at 12:00 pm