The university closed campus due to weather forecast for blizzard conditions on Saturday, Jan. 29, according to an email sent by Lois Stanley to the Brandeis community on Jan. 28. All university-planned events and activities were canceled for the day.

For dining services, Sherman Grab and Go remained open with their usual service hours, and Upper Usdan was open for mobile pick-up orders from the bite app, according to the email. According to the Dining Services Website, the C-Store was open for online shopping. Einstein’s Bros Bagels, The Stein and Lower Usdan, were closed due to the weather conditions, according to the dining website.      

Employees were obligated to work on Jan. 29 if they are scheduled to work during snow emergencies. According to the email, other employees will have to come in if required by their manager. 

For clearing campus roadways of snow, the university requested that all vehicles be moved off of Loop Road, according to the email. Vehicles were asked to be moved to their assigned parking lot by 2 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29, Stanley reminded students. The email requested that, when moving cars to the parking lots, community members should try to park together in a cluster, according to Stanley, as this helps in the snow clearing effort. 

The university’s grounds crew’s priority was centered on snow removal on emergency roadways, including Loop Road, dining hall access and building exits. The grounds crew will also clear campus pathways, including paths around residence halls. 

In the email, the university recommended that students planning to move in on Saturday, Jan. 29, reschedule their move-in date. However, this was not enforced by the university, only strongly encouraged. 

Gosman Athletics Facility, Faber and Goldfarb Libraries and the Rose Art Museum were all closed on Jan. 29. The campus shuttle service, both the Branvan and Joseph’s shuttles, were discontinued effective at midnight on Jan. 29, and the service was withheld all day Saturday. 

Updates on the weather-related changes could be accessed by community members on the university’s homepage, according to the email. 

“​​I’d like to recognize our Campus Ops staff—Central Heating Plant, Custodial, Dining, Grounds, O&M, and Public Safety—who have been on campus throughout the storm to ensure that full operations can resume tomorrow. This has been a significant weather event and they’ve been doing a phenomenal job at clearing snow while keeping all those on campus safe, warm, and well fed,” Stanley wrote in a follow-up email on Jan. 29 announcing a reopening of campus. 

In the follow-up email, Stanley announced that Gosman athletics facility, Faber and Goldfarb Libraries and the Rose Art Museum would reopen as well as the campus COVID-19 testing site in the Shapiro Science Center (SSC). The campus shuttle services were also set to resume on Jan. 30.