Children were not the only ones rejoicing at the sight of snowfall this week when several businesses and schools in the St. Louis area closed their doors for a snow day. An ice storm prompted Saint Louis University officials to cancel classes starting Monday evening and reopening Thursday morning, citing the safety of the campus community as a primary concern.

“It was a unique storm,” said Manoj Patankar, Vice President of the Frost Campus. “There was a lot of uncertainty, not just in the amount of snow or ice we would get, but when it would hit.”

The storm, which began Monday afternoon and carried into Wednesday morning, brought with it a quarter inch of ice, classifying it as an ice storm, two inches of snow and two inches of sleet.

“The sleet could have amounted to an additional eight to 12 inches of snow, had the storm not pulled in warmer air aloft, causing the snow to melt into sleet,” said David Koeller, SLU-TV chief meteorologist, explaining that the difference in temperature kept the St. Louis area from receiving more snowfall than predicted.

However, Koeller said that the quarter inch of ice with the sleet was particularly dangerous, and that the decision to close the University was a good call.

“Safety is first,” said Kent Porterfield, Vice President for Student Development. “If we feel that we put people at risk, then we don’t feel we should hold normal operations.”

According to Brett Magill, the Director of Institutional Research and Data Integrity, approximately 9,000 students, both undergraduate and professional, commute to campus on a daily basis. Additionally, 4,946 faculty and staff also travel to and from campus, according to Human Resources Specialist Karen Beyrouty. The safety of commuters was of particular interest to the University.

Roland Corvington, Director of the Department of Safety and Security Services, said that the wellbeing of the approximate 3,000 students who live on campus was also a concern in the case of an

electrical shortage during the storm.

“We wanted to have as few people on campus as possible to minimize the impact of any power outages,” Corvington said. “We were prepared to provide alternative shelter in case of an electrical outage.”

Alternative shelters, according to Porterfield, were primarily Simon Recreational Center, the Bush Student Center and Chaifetz Arena. The University also advised students who live on campus from the St. Louis area to return home in the case of an outage. To accommodate the students who remained on campus, the University made several spaces available for Chartwells employees to stay so that meals could be provided.

Although several departments at the University were closed, the Department of Facilities Management was prepared to clean the campus as the storm progressed. Grounds Supervisor Keith Labitska said the Grounds Department had been tracking the storm since Friday to ensure that they had enough equipment, such as ice meters and rock salt, to assist in cleanup.

“Snow is much easier to deal with,” Labitska said. “It is the freezing rain that packs itself down and is hard to plow. We had to keep going over it and get it done layer by layer.”

The ice caused one vehicle accident involving a University official, which caused Corvington to tell officers to park their cars and walk on foot when patrolling.

While the University has closed the campus for weather safety in the past, this is the first time since 1982 SLU has been closed for more than two consecutive days, said University Archivist John Waide, who has been working for the University for more than 36 years. The 1982 blizzard brought 24 inches of snow to St. Louis, closing the University campus for four days.

Patankar said faculty could be seen thanking the administration for closing campus, and that it will be up to them and students to catch up on the canceled classes.

“It was nice to be able to catch up on sleep and homework with the days off,” said freshman Tyler Green. “The dorms are a lot more fun because of the extra time that everyone had.”

Although the storm did not cause as much harm as expected, the University was prepared to tackle it.

“We are grateful that we didn’t see the results that we could have,” Porterfield said. “It could have been disastrous for us and our students.”