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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 28, 2024

The cold commute: How Tufts commuters handle extreme weather

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Tufts is blanketed in snow as Winter Storm Jonas blows through campus on Friday, Feb. 5, 2016.

While Tufts experienced a record-breaking 108.6 inches of snowfall and five snow days last winter, Feb. 8 was the closest Tufts came to a snow day this year. However, for a specific subset of the Tufts community, including the commuting faculty, staff and students at Tufts, a snow day can wreak havoc with their plans.

According to commuter students and Tufts dining staff, they must often chose between making an early morning trek or staying overnight on campus during extremely snowy weather.

When deciding to close school in advance of a snowstorm like the one on Feb. 8, the Office of Emergency Management monitors updates from the National Weather Service, according to a Feb. 11, 2014 blog post written by Geoffrey Bartlett, Tufts' Director of Emergency Management and Deputy Director of Public and Environmental Safety.

There’s no set "formula" for a snow day, Bartlett said. That decision includes many elements.

“There’s no hard and fast values that we’re looking for or specific variables, when they reach a specific point, [they're] going to automatically trigger a specific decision,” Bartlett said. “When we’re talking about the weather forecast, we’re really looking at three things: we’re looking at magnitude — so how much are we going to get; also, timing is also an important factor; and the last really important factor is confidence.”

Bartlett said that while sometimes forecasts are confident, storms are often complex in their composition and harder to predict. In these cases, a decision on a snow day can be carried over to the next morning. Morning deliberations begin at around 5:00 a.m., and a final decision is usually made around 5:30 a.m., Bartlett explained.

The final decision is made by the Executive Vice President, with input from the Vice President for Operations, Vice President for Human Resources and if it affects the Grafton campus, the Dean of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine,” Bartlett wrote in a Feb. 12 blog post. “This group of executives relies on the input of [Tufts University Police Department] and Facilities Services...The decision-making process is consultative, many times requiring discussion with some or all of the Executive Associate Deans of the 10 schools and one research center that make up Tufts University.”

One important element of the decision is public transit closure, as commuting students, faculty and staff use public roads and transportation to arrive on campus during rough weather. However, according to his Feb. 12 blog post, Bartlett believes that since less than nine percent of Medford/Somerville students, faculty and staff ride the subway or commuter rail to Tufts, the decision to close the university should be based mostly around the on-campus community, though commuters are encouraged to make their own sound decisions for their safety.

“We’re trying to use information, data in aggregate, and that’s not going to be an ideal situation for every individual person, but we need to make a decision about the preponderance of the Tufts community and the campus,” Bartlett said.

Sophomore Susan Hassan is a commuter and a resident of West Medford. Hassan described the delays that affected her morning commute to her early morning class during last winter’s weather conditions.

“...There was this huge mound of snow that would cover a whole lane of traffic, and it would get so jammed that the 15-minute bus ride would take an hour," Hassan said. “It was an 8:30 a.m. class, so that’s why it was very difficult to get up super early and take the bus. Because at that time, buses don’t run every 30 minutes or 20 minutes, they would run every hour.”

Other commuter students were able to avoid the snow-covered morning commute by utilizing the Hillside House or the Commuter House. According to Chiamaka Chima, a Tufts graduate student and co-manager of the Commuter House, the House serves students who decide to commute for convenience, financial reasons or other reasons. She said the house creates a community to meet friends and give commuters their own space on campus.

According to junior Bryan Kenny, Chima’s co-manager and co-president of Tufts Off-Hill Council, commuting students stayed at the Commuter House on Feb. 8 to avoid a potentially dangerous commute home, a safe option during last-minute inconveniences.

“It’s taking away that risk factor...giving commuters a safe space to stay when there are some variables that you can’t control like the weather or your car breaks or your parents can’t give you a ride home,” he said.

According to Kenny, students who have registered with the Commuter House can easily sign up for an open room to stay for the night and there are clean emergency linens available for students who need them. Kenny emphasized how easy it is to register to gain access to the Commuter House and its resources, and that all it takes is an email to the Commuter House.

Kenny said that even during last year’s multiple snow storms and snow days, the Commuter House has never had difficulty accommodating students.

“I can’t think of a time when someone said ‘I need a room,’ and we said no and couldn’t give them the space,” Kenny said.

Senior Dan Bozovichas been part of the Commuter House for two years. Along with Kenny, he is now co-president of the Off-Hill Council. The council, which according to Bozovic recently became recognized by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, represents commuters and students living off-campus.

Part of the mission of the Off-Hill Council is to promote the Commuter House as a resource for commuters. For Bozovic, even though he lives “up the hill,” there were times last winter when going home was not an option.

“My car does not have snow tires, so it’s hard just commuting to and from home,” Bozovic said. “It was nice to know that there was a place to stay, and I didn’t have to mooch off my friends’ places. I have a spot dedicated for times like that, so it was pretty great to have this resource for that.”

Last winter, Dewick-MacPhie and Carmichael, the main dining halls on campus, continued their services through each winter storm. According to Director of Dining and Business Services Patti Klos, during events like last year’s multiple snow days, the main dining halls had to keep up with a greater number of students using the facilities and the staff had to show up to work despite extreme weather conditions.

Klos explained that dining staff members that are considered “essential staff” — those working in the main dining halls as well as those working in the central kitchen located in the lower level of Dewick — are expected to arrive at work despite emergency situations like snow storms. She noted that the distinction of being a member of essential staff and its responsibilities are made known to employees upon hiring.

Some staff will decide that the best option for them is to spend the night on campus. Klos said that staff who choose to stay overnight are offered amenities such as air mattresses, linens and emergency toiletry kits.

While Klos says that more than half of the dining services staff is expected to arrive to work during emergency situations such as snow storms, according to a Jan. 28, 2015 Daily op-ed, only about 10 employees spent the night in Dewick and about six employees spent the night in Carmichael.

Sandy Almonte, a cook at Dewick, said that those who are likely to spend the night in the dining halls include staff members who are scheduled to come in during early morning hours to prepare food, the sous-chef and some managers.

For Robert Stefanik, the service manager at Dewick, spending the night at Dewick was a safer option than going home one night last winter.

“I live in Swampscott, and my housemates were telling me that the town wasn’t plowed well,” Stefanik said. “So I ended up staying here.”

One of the Dining Services Attendants, Donna Alberino, said of her one-night stay in Dewick last winter that employees make the most of the situation by talking and getting to know one another during their overnight stay.

“There is camaraderie,” she said. “It’s nice to stay up and talk with people who you work with.”

Almonte also noted that some members of the staff carpool together to help with the commute home.

“We try to help one another,” Almonte said. “We’ve worked with each other for so many years.”

Both Almonte and Stefanik highlighted that no matter the situation, providing food for the student body is their priority. Tufts students recognized such dedication last year through Tufts Confessions posts, posters and notes decorating the dining hall and even through Jan. 28, 2015 Daily editorial.

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According to Klos, such support for the dining staff’s dedication makes the Tufts community a pleasure to serve.

“Honestly, we go into this work because we enjoy it,” Klos said. “It has its demands, but it’s satisfying and particularly being on this campus because we have great students.”