‘It’s the Wrong Call’: Students React to College’s Decision to Hold In-Person Classes During Snowstorm

Harvard College will open on Monday despite a winter storm that brought more than a foot of snow to Cambridge on Sunday — prompting frustration from students concerned about travel, accessibility, and safety.

While the College and FAS will host in-person classes, Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick wrote in a campus-wide announcement that Harvard’s various schools would implement “specific operational modifications” and encouraged the University’s non-essential central administrative staff to work remotely.

As snow continued to fall on Sunday, many graduate schools — including the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School — announced that they would conduct all classes virtually on Monday.

But the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ Interim Dean for Administration and Finance Mary Ann Bradley wrote to students and faculty later on Sunday afternoon that the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences would continue to hold classes “as scheduled, when possible.”

Bradley added that faculty who could not safely travel to campus on Monday should conduct classes remotely or reschedule them.

Harvard was one of few universities in the Greater Boston area that chose to continue key operations on Monday. MIT, Boston University, and Tufts said they would close all campus operations and cancelled classes on Monday due to the weather conditions.

Several students at the College said they were dissatisfied with the decision to keep classes in-person, pointing to treacherous road conditions and widespread travel delays affecting students’ ability to return to campus after the winter recess.

“I think it’s the wrong call,” Ikenna O. Ogbogu ’27 said. “There are a lot of people whose flights have been canceled, and they’re struggling already to figure out a way to come onto campus and having to trek in the snow for the first day of class. It doesn’t need to be that way when we all know that the first day of classes is more or less just syllabus.”

Some students said their flights to Boston were canceled due to the inclement weather, leaving them unable to schedule plans to return to Cambridge until later in the week.

Chanden A. Climaco ’27 wrote that it was “frustrating” to learn that a canceled flight would cause him to miss the first day of classes.

“I miss my friends,” he wrote. “But if Harvard isn’t willing to give me a snow day, I’m overall happy that Southwest did!”

Eight members of the Harvard Krokodiloes, an all-male acapella group that toured nine cities over winter break, had their travel plans upended and ended up taking two additional connecting flights on their way back from Egypt.

“I will likely not fully adjust to school in terms of jet lag and stress until later in the week,” Frederick M. Sparke ’28 wrote.

The snowstorm also raised concerns for disabled students. President of the Harvard University Disability Justice Club Stephen T. Hall-Nunez ’28 wrote in a statement that the snow will make it especially difficult for students with physical disabilities to attend class.

“I tend to get stuck going up and down curb cuts because the plows tend to make snow accumulate there and people shoveling rarely think to clear them. Not to mention that not all of the sidewalks are even clear on the way to my classes,” he wrote.

“It’s not the end of the world, but it’s definitely annoying and a bit unnecessary,” he added. “I’m not confident Harvard or the City of Cambridge is going to have enough time or resources to make travel safe for everybody in time for 9 a.m. classes.”

University spokesperson Jason Newton declined to comment beyond Weenick’s Sunday email to affiliates, but clarified that shuttle services across campus will continue operations on Monday.

“Shuttle service will continue, but likely at reduced capacity, dependent on weather conditions,” he wrote.

Harvard has shut down campus before in the face of extreme snowstorms. In 2017 and 2018, it announced temporary closures ahead of similar levels of snowfall. In 2015, Harvard suspended all operations for non-critical personnel in anticipation of a blizzard that brought more than two feet of snow to the Boston area.

Some students imagined a very different Monday had classes been called off.

“I would have woken up with the most amount of joy in my heart, and I would have gone and probably got hot cocoa from JP Licks,” John M. Wiest ’27 said. “And then I would have probably gone sledding on Widener steps and staged a big snowball fight in the Yard.”

“It’s really sad to me that that didn’t happen, because it would have been wonderful,” he added.

—Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @wzrenwick.

—Staff writer Claire L. Simon can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at csimon.13. Follow her on X @ClaireSimon.