Provost Susan Wente canceled classes Jan. 12 due to icy conditions making travel near the university unsafe. Additionally, Chancellor Zeppos declared an administrative leave day.
Students, faculty and staff received emails, text messages and phone calls at 5:02 a.m. on Friday alerting them of the announcement.
“Due to winter weather conditions, the Provost has canceled classes for Friday, January 12, 2018, and the Chancellor has declared an administrative leave day,” the message read.
While employees whose work is considered essential “to core operations” are still required to report to campus, non-essential staff was excused for the day, the message instructed.
There are several changes to dining hall schedules and other on-campus dining options due to the weather. Local Java will close at 10 a.m., and Rand Dining Hall and Bamboo Bistro will close at 2 p.m. The campus store in Rand, Pi and Leaf, and Suzie’s coffee shops will all be closed for the day. Commons dining hall will be open for regular scheduled hours. Campus Dining plans to announce more updates on their Twitter page.
“We always try and run operations on normal schedule and make adjustments based on our staff being able to safely make it to campus,” David ter Kuile, Executive Director of Campus Dining, said in an email to the Hustler.
A winter weather advisory is in effect until midnight due to below freezing temperatures, snow accumulations of up to one inch and ice accumulations of up to one tenth of an inch, Accuweather reported. Wind chill temperatures are expected to fall well below freezing and into the teens.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol instructed those who must need to drive Friday to be prepared for the worst.
The last time Vanderbilt canceled class due to inclement weather was during January 2016 after nearly eight inches of snow made travel to campus unsafe. Vanderbilt also canceled classes in Feb. 2015 when Tenn. declared a state of emergency, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean requested that all nonessential travel be suspended, and public transportation was suspended in Nashville.
