Although students have had a break from the normal stresses of attending class, faculty and staff members considered “situationally critical” continued their work at MU over the past few days despite treacherous driving conditions.
These employees include MU Police Department officers and staff, Campus Facilities staff, Department of Residential Life employees, Campus Dining Services staff and several MU Health Care employees.
“More than 250 people have been working on campus since the storm began, making sure those on campus are safe, have enough food and appropriate shelter, and working to make the campus ready for normal operations,” MU spokesman Christian Basi said.
The weather conditions on campus over the past few days mirror the 20 inches of snow MU received in 2006, which resulted in a single day of canceled classes. During this time, the $25,000 in funds allocated to clearing snow from garages fell short of what was actually needed.
In 2006, Campus Facilities used between 80 and 100 tons of sand, 120 tons of de-icing salt for the roads and 20 tons of bagged ice melt by early December.
Then Campus Facilities spokesman Phil Shocklee said a committee meets and reviews the campus snow and ice policy each year.
In 2006, Parking and Transportation Director Jim Joy said he assigns $25,000 in his budget each year for snow removal from the garages. He said that amount is barely used some years, but in 2006 it was not going to be enough to cover costs.
“You can’t plan on having it every year,” Joy said in 2006.
Joy was unable to comment on the possibility of MU going over its budget for cleanup efforts this year.
Many students also faced challenges commuting to jobs. KOMU/Channel 8 News Director Stacey Woelfel stressed to his student staff and regular employees that missed shifts due to the snow storm or anything else would result in a zero for students working at KOMU for a class or firing for employees.
Woelfel also said the news station would help employees and students get to the station by providing four wheel drive transportation, and have sleeping bags available to those who needed to stay the night because of the adverse conditions.
“All of you have chosen to explore a career in the news profession, and that means you have to work at times when most others will just opt to stay at home,” Woelfel said in an e-mail to KOMU employees. “If you have a shift, you must show up to work it.”
Most university employees and staff return to work Friday, but, with most of the snow dumped by this week’s storm still on the ground, Campus Facilities and Parking and Transportation’s efforts to clean up campus will continue at least over the next week.
