Along with 14 inches of snow, disappointment blanketed Penn’s campus Thursday morning when students discovered they still had to go to class.
For Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and his colleagues, deciding whether or not to close the University was a “very challenging decision.”
With Provost Vincent Price and advice from the Division of Public Safety, the pair made the final decision to keep Penn open Thursday at around 4:30 a.m. after a long evening of communicating with several University and city officials.
Carnaroli said that though the snow storm left a large amount of snow on Penn’s campus, it would take an “extraordinary event” to close the University.
“We make the call as soon as we feel we have the best information,” he added.
“Like everyone else … I wanted a snow day,” College junior Karla Molina said. However, she noted that this storm “was nothing like it was last year” because cleanup of walkways around campus was more efficient this year. Penn shut down for two days due to record-high snowfall last February.
As part of what Carnaroli called “a lot of logistical planning,” Facilities and Real Estate Services was responsible for clearing walkways on Penn’s campus from the Schuylkill River to 41st Street, and from the School of Medicine to Chestnut Street.
“We coordinate with vendors, business owners and the city to make sure all other areas in and around campus are cleared,” Ken Ogawa, executive director of operations and maintenance for FRES, wrote in an e-mail.
Ogawa explained that FRES employees on the Urban Park Staff used 25 snow blowers, five trucks with plows and salt spreaders, one tractor with a broom, several smaller machines with brooms and “many, many shovels” to clear the approximately 1.3 million square feet of walkways on and around Penn’s campus.
“Depending on the severity and timing of the storm, staffing is in place and addressing pre- and current conditions. Paved areas are pre-treated (with brine) to minimize sticking and prevent hazardous conditions on campus,” Ogawa wrote.
The city of Philadelphia recommended that the University close during last school-year’s blizzard because of the number of cars it would put on the road. However, the University did not receive the same advice this year.
Nevertheless, transportation issues still manifested themselves around campus.
Chris Smith, the head chef at Houston Market, said that “over 30 employees called out [of work] today” because many employees depended on SEPTA bus rides to work. Though they were scheduled to start running at 8 a.m., numerous bus routes were out of service for the entire day.
With the shortage of employees, Smith and his “five or six” co-workers who could come to work “had to make do,” he said. Though the salad bar and taqueria in the Market were closed and dining choices were limited, Smith said the situation was “better than not having anything at all.”
College freshman Mariantonia Rojas had an 8:30 a.m. class in David Rittenhouse Laboratories and said while she “was really not comfortable going,” it was “not that big of a deal.”
“I’d rather go to class and not miss the material than have to do it myself, which requires willpower,” she said.
College freshman Trevor Cassidy summed up what many students around campus were thinking Thursday morning. “I wasn’t getting my hopes up for one, but I woke up this morning and saw that my first class was canceled, which I guess is a nice compromise. But I would have preferred it if math were canceled.”
