University Of Chicago, DePaul Cancel Classes Due To Snowstorm Pounding Area
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The University of Chicago and DePaul University have both announced that they are cancelling in-person classes Monday night and at least part of Tuesday due to a snowstorm pounding the Chicago area.
All in-person classes at the U of C were canceled beginning at 2:30 p.m. Monday and will resume at noon on Tuesday. COVID-19 testing sites at the U of C also closed at 2:30 p.m. and will reopen at noon Tuesday.
University employees who do not need to be on campus are advised to work remotely. UChicago Medicine and Biological Sciences Division personnel who do essential work will still need to come in.
All residence halls and dining commons will remain open at the U of C, and essential safety personnel will still be working – though security officers may move from outdoor posts if the cold becomes severe enough. Shuttle buses will keep running unless conditions make it impossible or unsafe.
But all library facilities, as well as Harper Memorial Library, the Ratner Athletics Center, and the two main U of C student centers – the Reynolds Club and Ida Noyes Hall – will be closed, as will the eateries in the buildings.
The University of Chicago Medical Center will remain in operation, and UChicago Student Wellness will remain open for virtual care. Anyone students who plan to come into the Student Wellness Center are asked to call (773) 834-WELL first.
The Laboratory Schools and the U of C Charter Schools also closed at 3 p.m. Monday.
Students who experience difficulties with the weather such as inadequate winter clothing or transportation problems are asked to call Campus and Student Life at (773) 702-5243 during regular business hours or to submit a request to https://csl.uchicago.edu/about/contact. For immediate attention, students can call the Dean-on-Call at (773) 834-HELP (4357).
LIVE UPDATES: Heavy Lake-Effect Snow Expected To Continue For Hours; Totals Could Exceed 12 Inches In Spots
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At DePaul, all in-person classes are canceled beginning at 5 p.m. Monday, and continuing al day Tuesday. The Student Center and The Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center in Lincoln Park will be open on a reduced schedule, but all other DePaul academic buildings – including libraries – will be closed
Employees do not need to report to campus unless they are essential, and those who are working from home should continue doing so.
On Tuesday, the Lincoln Park Student Center will reopen for food service for students who live in dorms between 11 a.m. ad 1:30 p.m., and again between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The Ray will be open from noon to 8 p.m. as well, and parking decks on the Lincoln Park campus will be open.
With Chicago still in a deep freeze, and more than a foot of snow already on the ground from a series of winter storms over the past couple weeks, Chicagoland could get more than 12 inches of fresh lake effect snow by Tuesday morning.
On Monday afternoon, bands of lake-effect snow were hitting parts of Cook County, with possible snowfall rates amounting to 2 inches per hour and visibility near zero at times. One plume was hovering over the Chicago-Evanston line to the north, another near the boundary between the southern end of Cook County and Northwest Indiana.
Meanwhile, snow from the system that has struck the southern states will be arriving by sunset. The major winter storm has already crippled much of the country and will bring accumulating snow across the area.
