Soon after the federal government announced it will remain closed for the third straight day, the University followed suit and canceled all Wednesday classes in a notice posted to Campus Advisories at 7:13 p.m.
While it is still unclear when the University last canceled three days of classes in a row, former University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said he could not recall a similar incident happening at GW in his nearly 20-year tenure as president. As the Campus Advisories notice went out Tuesday evening, the second snowstorm to hit the D.C. area since Friday was well underway and is expected to dump another 10 to 20 inches by Wednesday afternoon.
A lack of public transportation options appears to be the main reason GW will remain closed. Executive Vice President and Treasurer Lou Katz said GW would cancel classes until the public transportation situation improved and with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announcing that Metrorail would be limited to underground stations and no Metrobus service would be available Wednesday, the University’s decision to remain closed was not unexpected.
As Katz said Tuesday, the limited Metrorail and Metrobus service is “just not adequate to get the people safely to and from campus.”
The effect of at least three snow days on the academic calendar is still unclear, administrators have told The Hatchet.
“There are already contingencies on the calender for makeup classes; however, if the number increases, we shall have to consider different options with respect to making up classes,” Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald Lehman said in an e-mail.
Lehman said it would be “premature” to guess whether the snow days would affect the finals schedule. He also noted that students should keep up with their school work, even though classes were canceled.
“Some professors use electronic resources extensively and may expect things to continue on course independent of the weather,” Lehman said. “After all, many of us are working this week electronically, even though we cannot get out of our neighborhoods. I strongly suggest to the students to keep up with postings on Blackboard, etc., with respect to each of their courses, in order to meet the expectations of their professors.”
Lauren French contributed to this report.