Behind the scenes: Preparing the campus for snow

The scene is a classic one: reports of a storm on the horizon. Mumbled hopes of a possible snow day. Dreams of sledding the day away on the President's Lawn. While the snow falls and Jumbos sleep, a flurry of activity occurs, both seen and unseen.

According to Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire, a long process of preparing the campus for snow is set into motion when a storm approaches. As Tufts' police chief, Maguire ensures that the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) is adequately staffed during the time of the storm. His role also includes assisting the university's leadership to respond to adverse weather events based on safety and security concerns.

Maguire adds that a number of different groups on campus are involved in dealing with snowstorms. These groups include TUPD, University Relations, Digital Communications, Tufts Emergency Medical Services, the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs, Tufts Athletics, Tufts Dining Services and Facilities Services. With such a large number of groups, coordination can be quite the task.

“We conduct conference calls between and amongst university leadership and the Operations departments to strategize regarding our approach, if and when we may have enough information to make a call regarding closing any of our four campuses,” Maguire told the Daily in an email.

These snow storms are not all fun and games. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agencywarns that extreme winter weather can lead to roof collapses, communications disruptions, power outages and even fatalities. Maguire noted that it requires a lot of work to make sure this doesn’t happen — roads must be plowed, sidewalks must be shoveled and paths must be cleared.

Geoffrey Bartlett, director of Emergency Management and deputy director of Public and Environmental Safety, explained the process of making a decision on campus closings. The university's Office of Emergency Management maintains a strong relationship with the National Weather Service, which delivers briefing packages on the timing and severity of an incoming storm.

With four campuses — two in Boston, one in Grafton and one in Medford/Somerville — the weather reports received sometimes vary from location to location, but never too much, according to Bartlett. Bartlett also noted that each campus has a number of variables that determine the situation there, so each campus is considered independently.

Bartlett said that the decision to close a campus is significantly more complex than simply whether or not to cancel classes. For example, the Boston campus includes a medical hospital and dental clinics. These facilities have a lot more riding on them than simply student schedules. 

"The modern university is so much more than just a campus with classes. Tufts has patients as well as students, so the decision to close reaches more than you would think," Bartlett said.

Bartlett added that a decision is made either the night before or the morning of a snowstorm. When the decision-makers are confident about the accuracy and intensity of a snow forecast, the decision on whether or not to close comes at night. When the forecast is a bit murkier, the decision instead comes in the morning. Bartlett gave his assurance that there will never be an instance where a decision is made and not released until the morning.

Through the Twitter account @TuftsReady,the Office of Emergency Management communicates directly with the student body to update them on winter storm situations. Moreover, the office also provides messages on weather closings through an optional feature of TuftsAlert.

"It's really interesting, actually. A few years ago, an intern did a project on the correlation between inches of snow and the number of impressions we receive on social media. It's almost exactly correlated," Bartlett said.

When the snow finally falls, it does not disappear on its own. Director of Campus ServicesGary Hill told the Daily in an email how the campus gets cleared of snow. After receiving information from Bartlett and a variety of forecasts, Facilities Services tracks the time to determine when to begin snow operations.

“Facilities Services is expected to continue to provide services for students who are living on campus; i.e., provide power, heat, and hot water to buildings ... and the clearing and de-icing of roads, walks, and lots,” Hill said.

Ground Maintenance Supervisor Greg Mellett develops and implements plans for the snow removal, according to Hill.

“Greg [Mellett]’s in constant communication with Tufts’ Grounds and Labor Team and the vendors who support snow removal and salting/sanding operations for Tufts Medford,” Hill said.

In addition to the grounds and labor staff, Tufts receives vendor support from C&W Services. Responsibilities are divided: Tufts workers take care of the “southern zone” of campus, which is encompassed by Powder House Boulevard, Professors Row, College Avenue and Packard Avenue, while the vendor handles the remainder of campus as well as the sanding and salting operations, Hill explained.

This entire operation requires a lot of resources and labor. For a standard storm, Tufts relies on around six tons of road salt and usually four snow plows and two road sanders, along with skid-steers and a front-end loader. The university has the capabilities to dispatch up to 24 employees to handle the work at any given time, according to Hill. Hill added that with a hilly campus and, at times, bitter cold, the work can be challenging, but he gave kudos to the Facilities Services team who helps everything run smoothly.

Even with the level of coordination required and a seemingly never-ending onslaught of bad weather, Maguire shared that the responsibilities of everyone involved do not change drastically in the face of a storm.

“Public Safety is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year service, and we must deliver services on an on-going and continuous basis, without interruption, so things don’t change that much for us during or after a storm, except that we must use due care as we travel about, servicing the university,” Maguire said.