Heavy snowfall cancels classes

The Cathedral of Learning lawn was filled Monday with Pitt students looking for the best… The Cathedral of Learning lawn was filled Monday with Pitt students looking for the best way to make use of more than a foot of snow, classes being canceled and an assortment of makeshift sleds including cafeteria trays, kiddie pools and even durable canvas posters advertising Carnegie Museum of Art exhibits.

Sophomore engineering students Don Tezbir, Gary Greytok and Kyle Ohlson took to the Cathedral lawn for a snowball fight, saying they have been waiting all year for snow.

“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. So we had an idea, but no one would confirm it. 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],” Ohlson added, dodging a snowball.

Tezbir said that the trio had found out classes were cancelled by watching the television and by logging onto pittsburghchannel.com. As of 5:10 a.m. Monday, Duquesne University, Carnegie Mellon University, Carlow College and Pitt-Greensburg each had cancellations posted on local TV news stations, and many of those were announced late Sunday night.

Pitt did not have a cancellation posted at that time.

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 as usual – was available on the Web site.

Hill stressed that although classes were cancelled, the University itself will remain open. Hill also said 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 dating 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 then would contact the Student Government Board 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.

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

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 said that when he found out, he contacted the Coordinator of Pitt TV who placed an announcement on Pitt’s station.

Osisek added, “The University does rely on Telefact and Pitt TV because they’re easily accessible to students. Everyone knows our number, and no one here can remember a time before Telefact existed.”

According to Osisek, Telefact has been serving students since around 1990.

Within two hours of opening on Monday, Telefact had received about 600 calls, most of which were students inquiring about the status of various University services. All computer labs, libraries and cafeterias – with the exception of Eddie’s – remained open. By early afternoon, shuttles were running, but weren’t necessarily on schedule. All gyms were closed.

Continuing into the early morning hours of Monday morning, Pittsburgh received 13.1 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. Governor Ed Rendell declared a state of emergency early Monday morning. West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia were also operating in states of emergency. New York City has called in the National Guard for assistance.

One to three more inches of snow are expected Monday night, with a 50 percent chance of snowfall Tuesday and a high temperature of 36 degrees. A heavy amount of snowfall is not predicted for the remainder of the week, and high temperatures are predicted to reach the 30s and 40s.