All classes will be canceled tomorrow, according to an announcement made by Timothy Dwight’s dining hall manager earlier this afternoon.
The announcement comes after Blizzard Nemo raged through New Haven, dumping nearly 3 feet of snow on the Elm City. University Vice President Linda Lorimer said in a Sunday email to the Yale community that she would send an email before 6 p.m. today with additional updates about Monday schedules.
Update: 5:09 p.m.
Lorimer sent an email to the Yale community late Sunday afternoon confirming that classes will be canceled tomorrow. Read her full email below:
To the Yale Community
The President, President-Elect, Provost and the Deans of the Schools have conferred this afternoon and think that the wisest way forward for tomorrow is as follows:
STUDENTS AND FACULTY: ALL CLASSES ARE CANCELLED UNIVERSITY-WIDE for Monday. Travel conditions in the city of New Haven and surrounding towns remain extremely challenging. Many arterial streets have only one passable lane, and pedestrian access to downtown is potentially dangerous since many sidewalks are not cleared and pedestrians are walking in the streets as cards skid and spin. Despite heroic efforts by both Yale and city employees and contractors, there will not be major improvement by tomorrow morning, when rain is expected. To expedite snow removal as much as possible, the Mayor has requested that Yale and Gateway College cancel classes to keep vehicles and pedestrians off the streets.
STAFF PERFORMING ESSENTIAL SERVICES: And you know who you are–and we are so grateful for you! Please do everything possible to report for duty on your regular schedule. Contact your supervisor if your circumstances are such that you cannot make it to campus for Monday.
STAFF PERFORMING NON-ESSENTIAL SERVICES: I hate this term since so many of us in this “category” know we are important!! Anyhow, if you are NOT classified as performing essential services, please stay home tomorrow (you will not be “docked” to reduce your vacation time). We need to give the City and the Yale grounds crew the space to plow the streets, sidewalks, and parking lots and to get the City and Yale back in operational order.
OTHER TOPICS: We don’t know yet the plans for Connecticut Transit resuming operations, but we will alert you as soon as we know. At Yale Health, Urgent Visit and the Infirmary will be open, but all clinic appointments are cancelled for tomorrow. Libraries, museums, galleries, the gym and similar departments are all closed tomorrow.
INFORMATION UPDATES. Please check http://emergency.yale.edu for all the information that has been forwarded to us about schedules.
HEARTFELT THANKS. I wish I had the time to recount the heroic efforts of so many of our colleagues over the last 36 hours to serve our Yale. Rafi Taherian, the Director of Yale Dining Services, joined staff to cook in three different dining halls yesterday to ensure that our undergrads were fed; we had police and security officers who rescued several stranded Yale community members who were stuck in snow drifts; and Roger Goode and other Facilities staff have been on campus non-stop since Friday morning.
CHECK HTTP://EMERGENCY.YALE.EDU FREQUENTLY FOR UPDATES AND CHANGES.
We are part of a remarkable community of scholars and students and thousands who support the effort. We have to hope we don’t have too many of these incidents to remind us how much we are all bound together.
With great appreciation,
Linda Lorimer