Classes are canceled and all administrative and academic offices are closed Tuesday due to a “significant blizzard,” wrote Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy, in a community-wide email Monday.
National Weather Services issued a blizzard warning in Rhode Island, predicting snow accumulation of one to two feet, starting Monday evening and lasting through Wednesday morning, according to Google Public Alerts. The storm, dubbed Winter Storm Juno, has incited warnings across the Northeast, from New Jersey up toward Maine.
The Sharpe Refectory is the only campus dining venue open Tuesday, Carey wrote.
At dinner on Monday, Ratty staff members assembled and distributed provisions for students to take to their dorms. Around 4,500 “snack packs” were made available, each containing bottled water, a breakfast bar, cereal, peanut butter and jelly packets, bread, an apple and a chocolate bar.
“They really outdid themselves,” said Nick Fahey ’18.
A travel ban implemented by Gov. Gina Raimondo, which went into effect at 8 p.m. Monday, prevented the staff members from leaving at the typical departure time of 9 p.m., said Brown University Dining Services worker Sergio Cabrera earlier Monday.
Rather than returning to their homes, Ratty staff members will spend the night in the dining hall. They will stay through closing on Monday night and open the Ratty at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
“This is my first snow-in at Brown,” said Cabrera, who has worked for the University for over a year.
The most recent official cancellation of classes and administrative activities due to snow took place on Feb. 8, 2013, when Winter Storm Nemo blanketed Providence in about a foot and a half of snow, wrote Acting Director for News and Communications Mark Nickel in an email to The Herald.
The University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, the Rhode Island School of Design and Providence College have all closed for Tuesday as well, Nickel added.
Harin Lee ’17 said he is happy about classes being canceled, but regrets that he will miss the first meeting of a Tuesday seminar.
In an attempt to compensate for the cancellation, the University extended the add/drop period an extra day, until next Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 5 p.m., wrote Dean of the College Maud Mandel in a subsequent campus-wide email Monday. The change will allow students to “attend Tuesday classes in their entirety next week before shopping period ends,” she added.
Several students voiced approval of the University’s decision to cancel classes for Tuesday and commended the University’s commitment to campus safety.
- With additional reporting by Frances Chen
