UPDATED: Friday, March 2 at 4:59 p.m.

Syracuse University on Friday canceled a full day of classes due to snow for the third time in its history.

The university will operate on a “limited status” throughout the day, which means only essential employees such as campus safety and emergency services, food services and residence hall staff are required to report to their jobs. Faculty, administrative and office staff did not have to come to work, according to a campus-wide email sent Friday morning.

The first announcement of class cancellations came in a Winter Weather Alert, sent through text and on Twitter just before 6:30 a.m. Friday as a snowstorm rolled through central New York.

SU public safety officials decided to cancel classes after consulting with a meteorologist and reviewing National Weather Service data and forecasting, according to the campus-wide email sent just before 7:15 a.m.

Schine Student Center will remain open throughout the day, said Bridget Yule, director of student centers and programming services. But some student services are not required to remain open because they are not considered essential personnel, she said.

All events scheduled in Schine will go on as planned, according to the email.

“The student centers never close,” Yule said. “We’re considered essential personnel for students to be able to go somewhere.”

Kai Nguyen | Photo Editor

Food Services Manager Michael Maines said all dining halls will remain open. Goldstein Student Center, Schine Food Court and Kimmel Food Court are currently scheduled to remain open, but decisions are not final, he added.

All smaller cafes in various buildings are closed, Maines said.

Per the email, the other following student services will remain open, including:

• Health Services and the Counseling Center, with essential personnel
• The Women’s Building and Ernie Davis fitness centers
• All libraries

Sam Rietta, a sophomore advertising major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said the snow was an inconvenience because he still has class projects due. His South Campus apartment on Winding Ridge lost power, including heat, from about 6 to 7 a.m., he said.

Rietta’s bus commute to Main Campus from the apartment took much longer than usual — about 30 minutes, he said.

Some students decided to spend the afternoon sledding down the hill near Crouse College. Jackie Page, a senior international relations and television, radio and film dual major, posed for a photo with a “Speed Zone Ahead,” before one of her friends jumped onto a snow tube, barreling down the slope.

Sam Ogozalek | News Editor

SU last canceled a full day of classes for snow in 2011. That shutdown was the second full-day closure for snow in the university’s history. Class has been canceled for other reasons, though, including weather from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

About 12-18 inches of heavy, wet snow is predicted to fall across central New York, according to the National Weather Service.

This post has been updated with additional reporting. 

— News Editor Sam Ogozalek contributed reporting to this article.

Published on March 2, 2018 at 8:07 am

Contact Jordan: [email protected] | @jordanmuller18