• A message to faculty and staff regarding winter weather.
• Questions regarding the impact of the snow and cold on the Ann Arbor campus can be emailed to dos@umich.edu.
Note: This story has been updated with the following statement from Provost Martha Pollack:
“The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor winter term classes begin Wednesday, Jan. 8. In light of the severe weather, I have asked faculty to accommodate students who cannot return to campus for their first class meetings. This means students will not be dropped from a class they are unable to attend, and will be given any necessary class material when they return to campus.”
Following this weekend’s winter storm, university employees are working hard to address any hazardous conditions on campus. Classes resume Wednesday.
Roads, parking lots and pedestrian walkways have been cleared of snow and any building conditions due to low temperatures have been addressed.
Snow crews started working the highest-priority regions and then moved on to general service areas.
All university buses are running scheduled routes, though some may be delayed. Parking officials advised all campus commuters to bundle up and check bus arrival times before heading out to the bus shelters.
Dropping temperatures and blowing snow conditions will be monitored by Plant Operations, and staff will address any potential building issues as they become aware of them.
Mei-Hsiu Ling
Thank you for being flexible on the first-day attendance and wait-list policies this week. My daughter’s flight back to school on Jan 7 was just cancelled and rebooked to Jan 9 late evening. This means she will miss the first two days of school if the rebooked flight is not cancelled. She got so nervous and is looking for other routes back to school from NJ, including bus or train which may be even more troublesome. Will the university have some web link (e.g. Live meeting) so the students can have other means to access the the first few days of classes? Or will the university consider taping the first week of classes for the students who can not make it back on time due to weather?
Glenda mathes
Today Tuesday Jan 7 the Detroit airport is closed. How much more warming about the safety of the students does the administration need! Not closing the school adds so much stress for the students who have no way to get to campus until later in the week and causes real safety issues for students walking across campus and waiting for buses trying to get to class. This is just not right! very upset parent
John William
Do you have a link to this? If this is true, I don’t understand how the school can be open Wednesday.
Michigan Alumni 1990
I agree. Extremely poor judgement on part of U of M Ann Arbor administration to not cancel classes on Wednesday. This “wishy-washy” statement by the provost forces faculty and students on campus to be out in dangerous weather for classes that will likely be unproductive to make it fair to those students unable to get to campus. No one benefits…. What ever happened to good old fashioned common sense and what is really lost if classes are cancelled for one day??? I sincerely hope busses are on time, sidewalks are safe and there are no injuries or health issues as a result.
Mary Carlson
We planned to drive up from Indianapolis on Tuesday, 1/7. road conditions are still very hazardous today so we likely will not make it until tomorrow afternoon, Thursday 1/9. my daughter will have missed all of her classes by then. Why aren’t classes cancelled until it is safe to travel to campus? We have been following InDOT and MDOT website and there are still weather /ice related accidents reported every 5-10 minutes.
J Fowler
Temps look to be below zero without the wind chill. Any news on closing shop tomorrow, Tuesday, January 7? Just wondering!
Thanks so much,
J Fowler
Mark Rabinowitz ’95
I agree that faculty need to be flexible regarding student attendance during this rough time. But I wonder what (and where) U-M’s policy is regarding inclement weather on the Ann Arbor campus. I mean, the Dearborn and Flint campuses have already cancelled classes for 1/7, as have Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University and Wayne State. U-M did not cancel Ann Arbor campus classes on January 14, 1992 (despite a snowstorm) and January 19, 1994 (subzero temperatures), and I am disappointed that the present administration has not learned from those experiences.
Sara Linstrom
I think it is in very poor judgement that the University doesn’t put students safety first. Why?
L Holt
I agree with the previous posters… Everything else around is closed, why won’t UM keep employee and student safety in mind?
L Hewitt
The University of Michigan main campus in Ann Arbor should be closed for once whenever there is severe weather. Michigan State University has shown more empathy and compassion for its faculty and its students, let alone, Michigan State University is way more prestigious than The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
L Hewitt
Wayne State, Grand Valley State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Oakland, Lake Superior, Marquette, Michigan State and The University of Michigan sister schools in Dearborn and Flint are closed. Why does the Ann Arbor campus have to be open in these harsh conditions. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor needs to be closed for once!
John Salmons
Safety first! Cancel classes.
Robert Branman
Count me another parent whose student’s Jan. 6 flight was cancelled (out of Washington, D.C.) and could not be rebooked until Jan. 8, morning.
Darlene C
Make sure your student has transportation from the Airport. AirBus is not running the next few days according to the website. They will have to take “AirRide’ which drops them off some random place. My son is N Campus, so he will have to take a taxi I guess. What a mess. . . .
Lisa Schoettle
This is the letter that I sent to the University President:
I find it in-humane, and unbelievable, that you are not extending the start date of classes. I guarantee a good number of students will profoundly physically suffer by trying to return to the university today. I implore you to send a mass email to delay the start date. My son, and his friend, have a three hour drive to U of M, and we are extremely concerned for his safety. The danger is the roads, and if they go into a ditch, they will suffer hypothermia/frost bite in a very short time period. I am astounded by the University’s insensitivity in this matter. The philosophy that a professor would be “understanding”, does not account for the fact that my son is wait-listed on two classes, and must show, or may not be able to graduate on time, he is a junior. I plead to your sensibilities!!!
mary meyers
Hi Lisa, I agree 100 %. Since when does the head of university have to “ask teachers” to do anything?? This is an outrage ; all these students who love their school must feel so let down; U of M might as well say “Oh, we don’t give a shxx about you except for the tuition…And when they have a flu epidemic with people on life support doesn’t it seem like arctic conditions or not they should have postponed classes?? Who is in charge there now?? If one student is even mildly injured heads should roll there…
Melissa Hendrix
There is precedent to close for inclement weather…the day after Thanksgiving, classes were cancelled due to a snow storm in, I believe 1974 (could have been ’75). I spent a treacherous Sunday on I-94 as it took 5 1/2 hrs on the bus between Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor as some professor gifted us with an exam that Monday that I told my frightened parents I absolutely had to be back!
Now, my son, a junior, has to hope his mom can safely get him down that same stretch…we already know he will miss his first class tomorrow as today is too dangerous to drive today. Come on Univ of Mich!!! Public officials are imploring us to stay off the road and inside unless an emergency. Students are struggling with getting there by tomorrow, but Mother Nature is making that impossible and/or dangerous. Be practical!
Joseph Henderson
The occasion you mention does not carry much weight as a precedent. The University’s policy has always been, “We don’t close or cancel classes for the weather.” This one occasion in 1974 was for a broken steam pipe that kept many buildings from having heat. This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. I personally don’t like the policy, but it is consistent, which makes it predictable. That’s probably little consolation, but it is what it is.
E E
“Requesting professors to be flexible” is ridiculous. I have five classes this semester and so far only one professor has emailed to say that we will not be punished for missing the first day due to the weather. The administration does not need to “request” anything–they have the power to protect students’ safety and cancel classes at any time and they choose not to. The current wind chill in Ann Arbor is -35 degrees and the National Weather Service has issued a wind chill warning. Unlike the administration and faculty who can drive to work, students have to walk across this huge campus in extremely dangerous conditions.
Joseph Henderson
Using the word “request” or “requesting” was an unfortunate choice. The language used in the body of the announcement was actually very directive and does not ask faculty anything. It tells them that students will not be penalized for late arrivals due to the weather. The statement from the provost should be referred to as a direction rather than a request.
M F
Please push back the start of classes until this weather breaks and students can SAFELY return to Ann Arbor! This is a totally different situation than simply whether or not to have a snow day in the middle of the semester!
Pinki Sinha
oI am a parent and concerned about my daughter. I think the start date shpuld be extended due to trecherous weather conditions.
E W
It would be in everyone’s safety interest to cancel classes Wednesday . Please do ASAP
S B
Perhaps the university should take its own advice, as it posts on the UMHS website:
http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/wintsafe.htm. There is no way students can “try to stay indoors. Make any trips outside as brief as possible”, when the average walk-time to classes is 10+ minutes.
J T
My daughter and 3 of her friends will be leaving Chicago around 11:00 today to make it back to Ann Arbor for the first day. So far, she has heard from one of her professors about not worrying if she can’t be there the first day. Even that professor is requiring “proof” of some sort, such as an itinerary change or flight/bus/train cancellation. My daughter is driving. What about the fact that the roads are bad and people are being asked to stay off them so the plows can do what they need to do? Not sure if that counts as valid “proof”, so she will be braving the elements to get back there. I am sick to my stomach at the thought of her driving today.
l p
Let’s not make it strictly about students, as they are the reason we all are here. The University should also worry about it’s employees who commute from 1/2 hr to a hour away on icy roads and cold temps. I think the lack of concern for faculty, staff and students is a slap in the face. This is over a fear of being sued? Perhaps when an employee is frost bit from waiting for a bus (as not enough parking is available) or an accident due to icy roads as a faculty member is trying to get to class a law suit may occur that would force the University to look at thier reasons for staying open a little closer and be a little more concious of faculty, staff and students and realistic in thier expectaions of staying open.
N P
Thank you, LP, for remembering the UM staff as well as the students. It’s ridiculous that our campus is open at all. As 107.1 said this morning, “All schools in the area are closed, with the most notable exception being the U of M in Ann Arbor.” It’s ridiculous! I live closer to EMU and they’ve been closed for the safety of their staff and students. UM needs to wake up!
M B
A lot of people will be putting their lives at risk today- by traveling, per the state police. It is sad that the University has the power to put thousands of parent’s minds at ease over their children’s desperate measures to make the first day of class- and doesn’t exercise that power. In the scheme of things, missing one day of class won’t matter. Skidding off an icy overpass will. Hopefully parents and their children will make the smartest, safest decisions for themselves.
Concerned parent
I fear that someone is going to get injured or killed trying to return to campus as a result of this policy decision.
W Ranw
If UM is open tomorrow (Wednesday), this is the lesson the students will learn: Ignore warnings from the National Weather Service.
J Johnson
From what I hear, UM was taken to court by a UM law student for canceling classes – tuition lost, etc… since then, they will likely never close the campus. They are definitely playing hardball, playing with safety of students/faculty/staff just to stand their ground
Bruce Skinner
I heard this same story. I would think U-M would have an even bigger lawsuit if a student or professor were to get injured or killed trying to get to the campus. If U-M is concerned about a lawsuit from some selfish student who can’t put their own safety or the safety of others first, then U-M should have every student sign an agreement that they will not file a lawsuit when school is cancelled due to inclement weather. This should be easy for the legal staff to draw up. If a student refuses to sign, then they don’t get admitted.
L B
While I’m on the side of the students, parents and employees, I must add that the story of a student suing the UM is a hoax. You can find it all over online.
L R
I am very upset with the University. Clearing the snow and worrying about dressing properly is fine, but disregarding the safety issue of “forcing” students to drive back in treacherous conditions is unconscionable. Also, there are kids who can’t fly or take trains due to cancellations. I say “forcing” because the students feel they have no choice but to be in class tomorrow or risk their spot be given away to the wait list. So, don’t close school, but instruct the professors to wait until next week to enforce the “first day attendance rule”. I hope no student is injured or worse because of the administration’s lack of clear thinking.
S T
If the only reason that the University of Michigan does not cancel classes due to extreme weather conditions is because of past law students threatening to sue, then perhaps they should only have the law students attending classes tomorrow. Just a thought!
M L
Our son’s flight (from California) was also cancelled and he will certainly miss 1-2 days of classes. I would encourage the administration to cancel classes for at least 1-2 days and find a way to reschedule those classes (at night, over the weekend, extend the semester, etc.).
Darlene C
Make sure your student has transportation from the Airport. AirBus is not running the next few days according to the website. They will have to take “AirRide’ which drops them off some random place. My son is N Campus, so he will have to take a taxi I guess. What a mess. . .
M L
Yes, our son lives at North Campus also. He arrives at 9pm tonight. Perhaps he can find another student or two to share a taxi.
D Dieterle
UM comes first. Student and employee safety second. Warnings to stay home, stay off the roads…. bitter cold. Roads on Tuesday were slick ice… Does UM care? I think not!
SAEB FARHAN
MSU cancelled its classes Jan 6 and Jan 7 and prioritized its students and staff safety! Safety first!
M G
MSU is opening classes starting today, Jan 7, at 5 pm.
F Hayes
Icy, snow covered roads, drifting snow, lanes reduced, blowing snow across the entire lower part of the state from New Buffalo to Ann Arbor. This is straight from the Michigan State Police website. My freshman son is insistent he can’t miss the start of class and us as parents are insistent we are not going to put him in such a risky position on the roads. Very irresponsible of the University to not make a call on this and quickly. Don’t wait to have one unfortunate accident with a student to know what the right decision is. What is the downside — classes extend two more days further out. Who cares!!!!!
A King
So disappointed in UM for not following ALL the major universities and closing Monday, Tuesday, and pushing the start of classes back. Shouldn’t employee and student safety come first? Poor call, UM.
Kay O
It’s 2014. Surely, being creative with on-line materials for class tomorrow would be helpful and take some weight off minds of students and parents. My child will miss classes in the morning as we give the roads a chance to be a little better tomorrow and shoot for the afternoon. The street his house is on has not been plowed so while the U may be clear, where students live may not be accessible until later. So, what if parents threatened a group lawsuit against the U for knowingly insisting students risk it all to get classes and their dorm/apt/house tomorrow? Are they in cahoots with the city (as to why Ann Arbor refused to declare a winter emergency)?
Kate O’Connor
I’m an in-state student but a commuter. At this point, my car absolutely refuses to start and it’s not looking good for me to get out there for classes tomorrow.
I’m a grad student and luckily only have two classes tomorrow. Both of the professors know me and know that I never miss class, but not all students are that lucky. No one should be risking their lives just to get to class. The university needs to go further than simply “requesting” that faculty accommodate students.
Robert Primeau
I’m a commuter student who drives 50 minutes each way to school and back in good traffic. That’s just the driving. U of M doesn’t have adequate parking solutions for commuter students, such as allowing us to purchase blue-lot parking passes, so I have to walk an additional 20 minutes each way. To my knowledge, the University doesn’t collect information on the ratio of students that commute. That they don’t speaks volumes of what you must think of us as a constituency. Currently, highway travel is limited to about 30MPH, and half my route is closed due to highway construction, so I’ll be on the road for at least four hours tomorrow.
And I don’t even feel that I’m the worst affected by this inaction. Thier workers are going to be going through the same. I think that people waiting for the bus are going to go through worse. And for what? So they can post the same smarmy post on the U of M website every year that brags about how the school hasn’t had a snow day since the 1940’s. Thats a meaningless tradition and no one cares or wishes to uphold that.
Robert Primeau
I’m a commuter student who drives 50 minutes each way to school and back in good traffic. That’s just the driving. U of M doesn’t have adequate parking solutions for commuter students, such as allowing us to purchase blue-lot parking passes, so I have to walk an additional 20 minutes each way. To my knowledge, the University doesn’t collect information on the ratio of students that commute. That they don’t speaks volumes of what you must think of us as a constituency. Currently, highway travel is limited to about 30MPH, and half my route is closed due to highway construction, so I’ll be on the road for at least four hours tomorrow.
And I don’t even feel that I’m the worst affected by this inaction. Thier workers are going to be going through the same. I think that people waiting for the bus are going to go through worse. And for what? So they can post the same smarmy post on the U of M website every year that brags about how the school hasn’t had a snow day since the 1940’s. Thats a meaningless tradition and no one cares or wishes to uphold that.
M G
Tomorrow, Jan 8, will have a high of 17 and will be partly cloudy. UM should be open & I agree that students should be given leeway for missing classes because of the poor weather we had this week, which has caused travelling issues.
http://www.weather.com/weather/tomorrow/Ann+Arbor+MI+USMI0028:1:US
Michael Berman
My son is a sophomore at Michigan and his flight just got cancelled today with him already on the plane. I think it would be a nice gesture to cancel classes the next couple of days and not just ensure that students are not dropped and get handouts. There is a large percentage of the UM student body that cannot make it back to Ann Arbor through no fault of their own and they should not arrive already behind.
Michael Berman
My son is a sophomore at Michigan and his flight just got cancelled today with him already on the plane. I think it would be a nice gesture to cancel classes the next couple of days and not just ensure that students are not dropped and get handouts. There is a large percentage of the UM student body that cannot make it back to Ann Arbor through no fault of their own and they should not arrive already behind.
Dawb Bowen
I am not happy that my son left today for Ann Arbor and is driving on snow and ice covered I-94!!!! To disregard the students and staff safety is just crazy. Shame on you and shame on those that during orientation brag about the school that never closes!
matt gallo
My flight from NY was cancelled until tomorrow. I can’t afford to miss one of the most important meetings, the first one! You need to accommodate the traveling students.
R Singh
I do not understand why the university has taken the position to remain open on a day that poses dangerous health risks for students. My son is forced to miss class because his flight has been cancelled and we are now forced to drive him to catch a flight at an alternative airport 1 1/2 hours from our home in poor winter conditions so that he can make it to Ann Arbor by Wednesday night. I am disappointed in the judgement of UM leadership in this situation.
N Singh
I am a student who has been stranded in my home state because both DTW and my home airport have been shut down. I would greatly appreciate if you could close the school tomorrow (wednesday) or at least close all my classes so that i don’t miss them. I take Econ 330, Econ 402, Earth 108 (as a filler class), Astronomy 106, and one other that i can’t remember. Thank you for taking my requests into consideration your greatness. You will be mentioned during supper prayer tonight, amen.
S, Nadolny
Our daughter’s flight was also cancelled this morning in Orlando, FL – the flight has been rescheduled for tomorrow, weather permitting. Thank you Provost Pollack for your kind consideration. And thank you to the Music/Voice faculty for being so gracious, as well. Go Blue!
A Ferry
Clearly student safety is not a concern of the university. Canceled flights, solid ice on highways, and wind chills of -35 degrees should all be reason enough to allow students traveling from places not within a ten mild radius of the university wait until it is safe to travel. By not canceling classes the university is telling those students to figure it out and get here. Pride and stubbornness is coming before student safety.
M Fish
Honestly I don’t understand the logic! The whole state is closed down but for some reason the University of Michigan has to stay open. Why??? What point are you trying to make?
Nancy Garling
We tried to deliver our son to campus today from Troy, MI. There were too many cars spun out from slippery ice on I-696. So we got off and returned home. We planned to leave early tomorrow to try again. I’m worried the expressways will still be slippery and dangerous. I urge you to postpone classes until students can return safely.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
GFR D
Michigan prides itself on integrity and good values. Above all, its students, faculty and staff are its lifeblood. What does the University think it is going to accomplish tomorrow (1/8) by putting so many people in danger? What is worth that risk? There are two major points to be raised 1) this freeze over and arctic polar vortex is happening to the entire country–this is not limited to the Midwest. Conditions in Ann Arbor are one thing, but think of all the thousands of students who are traveling from across the country–they cannot physically get to Ann Arbor!
So Michigan is being hypocritical by holding classes tomorrow–unless it completely cancels them, students will feel obligated no matter what to return to Ann Arbor as fast as they can, while jeopardizing their safety. Let’s all rest assured that students are traveling in dangerous conditions…
cece seeley
I am writing as a concerned friend of an attending U of M student. The decision to reopen classes today only proves that higher education doesn’t equate to higher intelligence!
Darlene C.
My son is trying to get there today, Hopefully his flight won’t be cancelled again. When he gets to the airport, I just found out the AirBus bus is not runing today to campus, so he must take an alternate bus which will not take him to North Campus. He will have to take a taxi part of the way.
Darlene c
PS not happy. There is so much confusion to try and get him there and he is stressed out. Not a good way to start a semester.
Jiangyi Luo
I can’t believe my university is still open today (Wednesday). I had a fall and bruised legs when getting on the blue bus. The snow on the road is still very thick and the ground of the bus is very slippery. As an international student, I can’t understand why UM wants us to have classes in this bad weather in spite of our health with high tuition. Angry!!!
S L
My daughter was originally scheduled to fly home on Jan. 2 but the flights were cancelled due to the storm on the East Coast & rescheduled for Jan. 5 unknowingly at the time, during the peak of the storm in Michigan. These two flights were not cancelled but the first one left 2.5 hours late so she would have missed the second flight from DCA to DTW if I had not planned ahead and rescheduled the trip home a second time to arrive on Jan. 6. Her first flight was delayed but she had a 4 hour layover so she able to make the 2nd flight. She was one of the lucky people to arrive at DTW very late Monday night, especially since the other flight we considered taking was cancelled. She could still be waiting to fly home as many other students are. I intentionally allowed extra time to come home but never thought we would be cutting it so close to the start of classes. The 25 mile drive to/from the airport was so treacherous with many accidents on snow/ice covered roads and expressways. We were lucky to make it home safely around 1:30 AM on 1/7. I drove my daughter back to Ann Arbor (32 miles) in the evening on 1/7 and the roads were extremely treacherous and some were a sheet of ice. I was about to get on I-275 at 8 Mile Rd. but there were reports of a multi-vehicle accident so I headed toward 7 Mile Rd. to get on 275 but 7 Mile & Haggerty intersection was blocked by an accident. So plan C was taking 7 Mile to Northville Rd, down to Beck, 5 Mile, then M14. Traffic was not even going 10 mph on 7 Mile Rd. I almost slid through a red light even though I was barely moving when I began to stop for the yellow light. My antilock brakes never had so much use in one day. It took 1.5 hours to get to North Campus. Expecting students and employees to drive to campus in these conditions is unbelievable. Monroe County (MI) asked everyone to stay off the roads until noon on 1/8 and there were still major roads with vehicles spinning on the ice. Lucas County (OH) ordered all vehicles off the roads except for emergencies. Any other drivers could receive a traffic violation ticket. As others have commented, all other universities, including MSU and U of M Flint and Dearborn were closed, why not U of M Ann Arbor? Students should not be put under so much stress and worry about missing the first day of classes as they are driving, nor should their parents need to be so afraid for their child’s safety driving on treacherous roads back to Ann Arbor. Good luck to all who are still trying to get back to Ann Arbor and I hope you arrive safely.