Dear Editor,
The unusually severe winter we're experiencing has required Tufts to make some difficult decisions about whether to interrupt normal work and class schedules. In response to questions we've received and the Feb. 3 editorial "University mishandled response to snow," we thought it would be useful to the Tufts community if we provided a bit more detail on that subject.
With an early release or delayed opening, we make the decision based primarily on the conditions under which most staff, faculty and commuter students would have to travel. Safety is one concern. While we try to make these decisions as early as possible, there may well be occasions when someone may have started their commute before they learn of our decision. Another factor is giving our hard working grounds crew the time to clear the roads, walks and parking lots so that everyone can get to and move around campus safely.
The university faces special challenges because we have three Massachusetts campuses, often in different meteorological zones. For instance, last week it was snowing in Grafton, sleeting in Medford and raining in Boston at the same time. Further, there are multiple schools on these campuses, each with its own academic calendar, student demographics and staff/faculty commuting profiles. It is difficult, therefore, to provide a general university-wide decision and announcement that will perfectly suit everyone.
What we try to do is make a decision that provides a university-wide policy under which each school can make specific exceptions depending on the timeliness of its own classes, events etc. For instance, on Tuesday, Feb. 1, despite the early release, several events were held on the Medford campus later in the evening because the speaker or visiting team was already on campus, and the attendees were primarily resident students.
With continued enhancements in technology and the expertise of our Office of Web Communications, we will be adding links to the general announcements so that individuals will have easy access to the school-specific web pages and other communication channels through which schools will provide more specific information than can be succinctly put into the university-wide announcement. We will make every effort to have those communications put out as early as possible.
This winter has been unusually harsh. We hope we won't need further release, delay or closing announcements, but I wouldn't bet on it. We are open to any suggestions that members of the Tufts community may have.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dick Reynolds
Vice President for Operations
