Winter is coming

By Michelle Osmond | Dec. 1, 2015

When winter weather gets risky, we have a plan.

Living in Newfoundland and Labrador during winter means cancellations and closures happen. At Memorial University, we have a plan for keeping you informed.

When bad weather hits and safety is a concern, the decision to cancel classes or close the St. John’s campus is made by the university president (or his designate). The president gets advice from a number of university units, particularly Facilities Management, which is in close contact with Environment Canada and the provincial Department of Works, Services and Transportation as weather systems develop.

Similarly, in Corner Brook, the vice-president (Grenfell Campus) or her designate makes the decision in consultation with Facilities Management (Grenfell Campus).

Since Memorial is a residential institution, it is our priority to continue key operations and schedules to serve students who live on campus, even during an emergency like poor weather.

The university doesn’t close except under unusual circumstances. But in the event of severe weather or other emergencies and Memorial has to cancel classes or close, information will be available as quickly as possible through a variety of communications vehicles.

With a community of more than 18,000 students and more than 5,000 faculty and staff, news has to get out fast.

In St. John’s, when closures happen midway through the day, a message is phoned or faxed to student unions, faculties, schools, departments and divisions and emailed to employees via the Newsline email service. It’s also posted on Twitter, which you can follow at @MemorialU, posted to the www.today.mun.ca online news website and the main university website, www.mun.ca. The same notice is posted to the cancellations site at www.mun.ca/main/cancellations.php, which is also accessible by visiting the main webpage and via the MUNmobile app.

The Marine Institute notifies students, faculty and staff of closures and cancellations on the main website www.mi.mun .ca, as well as Twitter at @marineinstitute and its Facebook pages.

At Grenfell Campus notices are sent out via email, and information appears on www.grenfell.mun.ca. Closures are also posted on Twitter at @grenfellcampus and on its Facebook page. In addition, Grenfell changes its main phone line message to inform students, faculty and staff of updates as they become available.

Information is also communicated to the media who air the news as soon as possible. Early closings during daytime will be announced at least one hour in advance. Advisories for late openings and all-day closures will be issued by 7 a.m. In addition to contacting the media and posting information to the university website, early morning phone calls are made directly to the heads of key university units.

University emergency closing procedures can be found here: www.mun.ca/main/closures.php

Office of Emergency Management’s severe weather procedures can be found here: http://www.mun.ca/emergency/emergencyplans/weather.php

Personal emergency preparedness information can be found here: http://www.mun.ca/emergency/Preparedness/

Parking information during winter weather can be found here: http://www.mun.ca/facman/snow_ice.php


Contact

Marketing & Communications

230 Elizabeth Ave, St. John's, NL, CANADA, A1B 3X9

Postal Address: P.O. Box 4200, St. John's, NL, CANADA, A1C 5S7

Tel: (709) 864-8000