The University closed at 2 p.m. on Friday until Saturday due to “anticipated severe weather conditions” and “to ensure the safety of the University community and to help avoid traffic congestion on the roads.”
Schools in Fulton and Dekalb counties dismissed early due to the National Weather Service’s winter weather advisory on both days. Emory Healthcare (EHC) remained operational as employees received updates on the EHC intranet and through email.
One of the consequences of the snowy weather was the cancellation of Emory’s Racial Justice Retreat — which was established to discuss the Black Students at Emory’s recent demands — scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday.
Instead of an approximately four hour retreat with presentations and working-group discussions, there will be a three hour meeting on Friday, Feb. 26 with the original retreat participants to provide summaries and recommendations for the demands.
In an email to the participants of the retreat, University President James W. Wagner wrote that Emory Campus Life will create final draft plans by Feb. 15, which will be available online for a week to collect feedback.
“Advised by the results of the working groups’ efforts and our deliberations next month, we will move forward in intentional ways, investing the necessary time and resources and holding ourselves accountable, to make progress and implement solutions to this fundamentally important dimension of building true community,” Wagner wrote in the email.
The Panhellenic recruitment schedule was also delayed by two days, with the events on Jan. 22, 23 and 24 moved to Jan. 24, 29 and 30, respectively. Emory Panhellenic Society (EPC) President Olivia Czufin, EPC Vice President of Recruiting Adrian Rabin, Assistant Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Arthur Doctor, Jr. and Assistant Dean for Campus Life Marlon Gibson decided that they could not hold a university-sanctioned event when the university was closed, even though the forecast was unclear.
“It’s hard for everyone to readjust schedules, especially with little notice,” Rabin wrote in an email to the Wheel. “However, everyone was safe, which was the best outcome we could have hoped for.”
In addition, students who went on the Goizueta Business School skiing retreat had to extend their stay in Blowing Rock, North Carolina for a day due to unnavigable roads.
“The BBA advisors clearly had to make this call for safety reasons, but it was still an inconvenience for most students since we all planned to arrive back at Emory Saturday evening,” Goizueta Business School senior Rebecca Rubinstein wrote in an email to the Wheel. “However, Emory [did] an amazing job dealing with the situation… The BBA program provided us with meals, optional buses to the ski slopes and buses to a local bowling alley.”
Luckily, life on campus and activities were not as extremely affected, especially since Emory prepared for the worst, said Senior Director of Dining David Furhman.
“We are so lucky and so fortunate to have so many staff members in campus dining who are so committed to our campus,” Furhman said. “It was incredible to see all of our folks step up. We’re lucky to have them.”
anwesha.guha@emory.edu | Anwesha Guha (18C) is from Montgomery, Ala., majoring in English and quantitative science with a concentration in biology. She served most recently as news editor. In addition to the Wheel, she researches and tutors.
