The view from near my office...

(as of five minutes ago, from a nearby campus webcam)

This is the third straight Thursday-into-Friday of significant snow accumulation here in the foothills. For the last two weeks, there have been a few days of administrative closures, and "non-essential" personnel have been sent home early on a few occasions. Now that it is after finals and graduation, there are no students and very few faculty here. Today, however, even though the snow and ice are arguably worse than last week, the campus is staying open.

I am not personally terribly concerned about this, as I have four-wheel drive and am a patient and experienced driver on snow. I would hint that, perhaps, it is days like this that give university staff the impression that they rank less highly in the general hierarchy than students and faculty. The local school districts are all closed, as are many local businesses and offices. Yet staff are expected to come to work and stay at work, in part I suspect because no angry parents, big donors, or tenured-status professors are calling to rant on behalf of our safety. Staff are also expected to take vacation time or leave without pay if they cannot get in to work today (this is true unless and until the campus actually closes).

The snow is expected to taper off by evening, with accumulations of around 12 inches in the local area. I am sure there are guidelines the Chancellor's Office uses to determine campus closure, and I am trying not to be cynical about the reasons why campus closed last week and remains open this week. If those guidelines were a bit more public, perhaps there would be less general bitterness over which days "count" enough to close campus.