Snow canceled class, but staff had to report

Though students were surprised with a one-day holiday Monday, Pitt staff members who did not,… Though students were surprised with a one-day holiday Monday, Pitt staff members who did not, or were unable to, report to work were not afforded the same comfort.

A University memo circulated to all Pitt staff members instructing those who were not on the clock for Monday that they would have to use a day from their allotment of personal holiday or vacation days.

Continuing into early Monday morning, the 13.1 inches of snow that Pittsburgh received prompted Gov. Ed Rendell to declare a State of Disaster Emergency.

According to the memo, Pitt’s human resources department reported that “a State of Disaster Emergency is a level below a ‘State of Emergency’ and therefore any absence [Monday] is considered either ‘vacation’ or ‘personal holiday.'”

University officials could not be reached for comment concerning this human resources decision.

As of 5:10 a.m. Monday, Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University, Carlow College and Pitt-Greensburg each had cancellations posted on local television news stations.

Pitt did not have a cancellation posted at that time.

Sophomore engineering student Don Tezbir said that the he and his friends had found out classes were canceled by watching the television and visiting Thepittsburghchannel.com.

“It was a pain in the ass last night waiting for them to announce the cancellation,” Tezbir said. “We kept waiting but didn’t hear anything. I had an exam at 9 a.m., so I kind of wanted to know.”

“City schools were closed at 6 o’clock [Sunday night]. So we had an idea, but no one would confirm it,” Kyle Ohlson said. “It would have been nice if they announced it the night before. I mean, what about the commuters? They might have left and gotten stuck in the snow before they found out [classes were canceled].”

According to Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs Robert Hill, the University used several media venues in order to notify the student body of its decision to cancel classes. Public broadcast stations such as local radio and television stations were notified, and the decision was posted on the University Web site, which read, “In the wake of the snowstorm, classes are canceled but the University remains open.”

No other information – including whether cafeterias, computer labs and shuttles would remain on schedule – was available on the Web site.

Hill stressed that although classes were canceled, the University itself remained open. Hill also stated that in the future, all students with access to Pitt’s Audix service will find a message in their Audix voicemail box alerting them to a University cancellation or closing.

However, a memo dated Sept. 25, 2002, from Telefact and Student Government Board Adviser Joyce Giangarlo had already set in place a protocol as to the appropriate means of disseminating emergency information. This protocol was decided following a meeting of several student leaders, whom the memo does not name, in October, 2001.

The memo states that Telefact, the student events calendar and Pitt TV were regarded as the “quickest and most reliable way” to disseminate “any information of an emergency nature that needs to be given to the students.”

As a result, the memo outlines a chain of notification in event of an emergency in which Hill is to notify the Coordinator of Telefact, who would then contact the SGB president and the coordinator of Pitt TV.

Telefact began announcing Pitt’s cancellation of classes on its answering machine at about 11:20 a.m. Monday – hours after Hill said he was notified at 5:45 a.m.

Telefact Coordinator Greg Osisek stated that “we only knew because Joyce [Giangarlo] and I watched the television … no one from the University contacted us.” Osisek was unsure as to why Telefact was not immediately contacted after the decision to cancel classes had been made.

Hill confirmed that Telefact had not been notified, but would be contacted in the future.

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