Winter storm closes campus

Record-low temperatures and bouts of severe wind and snow hit Bloomington this past week, dragging Monroe County into the “deep freeze” that has hit the Midwest. What weather.com is calling “one of the coldest Arctic outbreaks in two decades” put Monroe County under a travel watch and IU's campus in a state of emergency.

Campus was shut down from Jan. 4 through Jan. 7 due to dangerously low, below-zero temperatures and wind chills that reached -35 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. The IU Alert system sent emails to all students and faculty detailing how they should deal with the hazardous conditions, warning of frostbite and hypothermia and shutting down campus until it was safe to reopen.

The last time that campus closed due to snow was Dec. 26, 2012, Ryan Piurek, head of the IU Bloomingon news and media team, said – and that was only for part of the day.

The Bloomington campus does not close frequently, though the University shut its doors several times in the past hundred years or so due to winter weather, the Spanish Flu, the Kennedy assassination and coal shortages.

In 1978, staff who made their way through the “Great Blizzard” to work received “Icicle Awards” from then-president John W. Ryan, but this past week all faculty, apart from critical staff prepared work in harsh conditions, were encouraged to stay home.

Campus reopened Wednesday, Jan. 8 as temperatures climbed to 26 degrees Fahrenheit – just below freezing – this afternoon. Classes should resume as scheduled Monday, Jan. 13.

— Anicka Slachta