A day-long snowstorm resulted in the cancellation of all UW-Madison evening classes Thursday, as five to seven inches of snow buried the campus.
UW-Madison Interim Provost Virginia Sapiro cancelled classes after 4:30 p.m. because of unsafe travel conditions caused by high winds and low visibility accompanying the storm.
'We were assuming, especially in the evening when it's dark and it's rush hour, that it would be very, very dangerous to ask people to be going to classes,' Sapiro said.
She said she spent most of the day monitoring the storm with reports from National Weather Service so she could decide by the 2:30 p.m. deadline whether to cancel the evening classes.
Sapiro's cancellation marks only the fifth widespread class cancellation in almost 50 years, the last occurring in 1990. That year, 17 inches accumulated in 12 to 13 hours, according to University records.
Sapiro said Thursday's cancellation was due to much more than the volume of snow.
'If it's just deep snow, we might not have bothered, because if they can clear the roads, they can clear the roads, but if you're talking about drifting in ice and white out conditions that gets different,' she said.
After Sapiro made the decision, a release was sent to the local media and posted on the University website, according to University spokesperson John Lucas.
He said an evening cancellation would affect fewer students than at a different time of day.
'Just knowing the normal number of class sections that meet per day, it's definitely a fraction of what would be taking place in the morning or afternoon,' Lucas said.
Sapiro said her office was in contact with the state government during the day and was monitoring how Madison businesses handled the events.
Many instructors cancelled classes Thursday morning before the official afternoon announcement, due to difficulties commuting to campus.
Sapiro said those who called off or did not attend classes in the morning would not face consequences.
'Our policy is that if people on campus believe they would be endangered by coming to campus, then we tell them they can make the choice not to be coming to work,' Sapiro said.
She added that those who did cancel classes were expected to make up the lost time with their students.
Sapiro and Lucas both said the likelihood of a cancellation on Friday is slim, but that the university would continue to monitor the weather overnight.
'Classes are on,' Sapiro said. 'Unless there's another blizzard tomorrow.'
