On the eve of its first day back from winter break, Ohio State University canceled in-person classes Monday for students on its Columbus main campus.
But when it comes to hoping for a “snow day,” college students aren’t usually so lucky.
That’s because getting a snow day off at many Ohio colleges and universities is a rare feat.
The National Weather Service in Wilmington issued a winter storm advisory for up to a half-foot of snow and some mixed precipitation beginning Sunday and in effect to 11:59 p.m. Monday for Franklin, Delaware, Licking, Madison and Union counties in central Ohio. Pickaway and Fairfield counties in central Ohio were looking at potentially higher amounts of up to 8 inches or more.
Most local K-12 school districts are set to return to class on Monday from holiday break. Other schools, including most Columbus-area colleges, are returning later.
While many district superintendents typically decide whether or not to close for weather until closer to the start of the school day, the decision to close a college is ususally much more difficult.
When does Ohio State University cancel classes for snow?
Ohio State University’s main Columbus campus rarely cancels classes for winter weather. The university has canceled classes on the Columbus campus just 20 times — including Monday’s cancellation — since 1978.
In a news alert Friday to Ohio State students and employees, the university said its threshold for cancellation is “far higher than that of a K-12 school district,” and that Buckeyes should plan to allow extra time for traveling to class and work Monday.
Robert Armstrong, Ohio State’s Emergency Management and Fire Prevention director, said on the “City of Ohio State” podcast in 2023 that multiple different groups across the university and off-campus partners assess whether its possible to hold in-person classes. There is no absolute temperature, snowfall amount or other specific hazard that automatically triggers a campus closure, he said.
“The decision is never black and white,” Armstrong said. “So many factors go into it: the storm timing, whether it’s 9 p.m. or 5 a.m., when the snow is coming in. If it comes in at 9 p.m., we may have time to clean it all up. If it’s 5 a.m., that’s right when people are starting to get to campus, and it makes it a little more difficult.”
Those factors are all presented to Ohio State’s president and provost, who ultimately make that decision based on the information.
Ohio State’s regional campuses, however, have different criteria for closures and canceling classes.
Winter weather at the regional campuses in Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Newark and Wooster can pose different issues, Armstrong said, given the number of students, faculty and staff who commute by driving on rural routes.
“They have a different set of challenges that they have to overcome when you’re talking heavy snow,” Amstrong said, “and it takes a lot longer for those folks to clean off the roads and make it safe to get to campus than it does in a larger city.”
That high bar has occassionally been a point of contention for Ohio State students, especially when other local schools have closed. After Winter Storm Landon canceled classes across Columbus on Feb. 3, 2022, Ohio State reopened its campus the next day even as other colleges remained closed.
How do other Columbus-area colleges call a snow day?
The decision to cancel classes at other Columbus-area colleges and universities most often falls to each school’s respective president.
Capital University’s guidelines for canceling classes and campus activities due to winter weather include the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office issuing a snow emergency; other area college campuses like Ohio State or Franklin University closing because of inclement weather; if facilities crews are unable to clear campus walkways and parking areas to a degree that would allow safe travel; or if one or more major access roads to Capital University like Interstate 70 closes because of unsafe road conditions.
Franklin University’s inclement weather policy says an emergency closing is only implemented “under severe and extreme circumstances.”
Ohio Wesleyan University only closes and cancels classes if the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office declares a Level 3 Snow Emergency in the area.
Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.
shendrix@dispatch.com
@sheridan120
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How often Columbus colleges and universities call a snow day? Rarely.