The Martlet

The fountain in front of the Victoria Legislature froze solid on Wednesday, Jan. 18, in solidarity with most of the rest of the city. Yet under 13 centimetres of blowing snow, through bus delays and temperatures dropping to −13°C with wind chill, the University of Victoria trudged on.

Canada Post initially sent letter carriers into downtown that morning, but then pulled them because of icy sidewalks, and halted residential mail delivery in Victoria and Nanaimo for the rest of the day. Police suspended towing efforts on main roads for safety reasons, despite abandoned vehicles, and advised motorists to stay off the streets if possible. Victoria Regional Transit closed some routes and warned of treacherous disembarking on others where buses could not pull up to the curb. School District 61 took a snow day, as did several private schools such as the nearby St. Michael’s University. For many it seemed as if UVic was the only place still running, and some wondered why.

“It was very frustrating knowing that I was going to have a stressful trip home just to try and be safe,” said Cheryl DeWolfe, who works in UVic’s McPherson Library. DeWolfe’s daughter is a student at Cloverdale Traditional School, which closed for the day. “Luckily my husband has a more flexible job where he was able to stay home with her.”

The Martlet found reports of only two official campus closures due to weather in the University’s 50-year history. One was in the late ’60s, a day early in January when no classes were scheduled. The other was Nov. 27, 2006; temperatures that day ranged between −1°C and −5°C, (down to −12°C with wind chill) and CUPE 917 members cleared significant snow to facilitate the return of students and employees the following day. UVic has a policy to ensure quick notification in case it closes for extreme weather, but has never used it.

Schools typically try to determine if they will close due to inclement weather before 6:30 a.m., because once people are already there it may be safer to wait the weather out rather than flood icy streets with sudden return traffic. On Jan. 18, conditions didn’t seem severe enough to necessitate closure until after that time, which is why many institutions, including Royal Roads University and Camosun Colleges, did not announce closure until mid-morning.

“People seemed to be doing OK getting in,” said Michelle Tinis of Camosun Media Relations. “We knew that UVic was open and Royal Roads was open at that time as well, but it just kept getting worse.”

They decided to close Camosun at 9:15 a.m., after hearing that the number 14 and 22 buses were not running. One number 14 bus got stuck on Helmcken Road; its passengers transferred to another bus. Buildings on Camosun campuses remained open until 2 p.m. to ensure those who had made it there had shelter until they could safely leave.

“Someone has to make the call,” said Doug Ozeroff of Royal Roads Community Relations.

He emphasizes the slightly different geography of the Royal Roads site compared to surrounding areas and says a large factor in its closure was road conditions on the hill leading past their Learning and Innovation Centre. “Our main concern is to make sure staff, students and faculty can safely get in and out.”

UVic Vice-president of Operations Gayle Gorril echoes that statement.

“We do take safety very seriously,” said Gorril.

She says that the vast majority of people get to campus by transit, so since buses continued to come to the loop, UVic waited just a little longer for things to clear up. “By afternoon, it was improving: the snow stopped, the sun came out.”

Meanwhile, some classes were cancelled and others had substantially reduced attendance. Justin White, who is pursuing a double major in Environmental Studies and Geography at UVic, was set on attending his morning ES 301 class to get some guidance with difficult readings. However, both of his Jan. 18 classes were cancelled. His instructor had sent out an email that White didn’t find until after his arrival.

“I showed up and nobody was there. Not a single person,” says White. “She cancelled it because a bunch of people couldn’t make it in because of where they were and the weather. She also wasn’t feeling well.”

White, who rarely misses classes because he hopes to get his money’s worth, says it seemed to him like instructors just didn’t expect students to come that day. “It irritates me a bit, but given the situation, I understood why teachers would cancel it.”

While missed classes may disrupt a tight curriculum, Tinis says individual faculty at Camosun can work with each student to adjust the course material as a result of the closure. Fewer cancelled classes saves that kind of arrangement.

The UVic website advises employees and students to use public transit if possible in poor road conditions. Many students with transit access did attend Jan. 18 classes despite the foul weather. White, for instance, was conveniently able to take advantage of another ES 301 class that he happened to know was taking place at the same time. Gorril says they’re always trying to balance.

“Where we can, we need to make sure that we’re doing what we need to do,” says Gorril. “Sometimes the initial reaction is, ‘We could have had a snow day,’ but the fact of the matter is people are paying for classes and we need to be responsible.”