Monday, March 13th a winter storm warning was issued for the surrounding Bennington area. The storm went into full effect Tuesday, while students braved the weather to make it to classes. Tuesday night, the power went out in several student houses, and by Wednesday morning most of the campus was experiencing a power outage. With no wifi connection Tuesday night, students were not able to study or get work done. Students attempted class readings with flashlights, while the housing department went around campus bringing firewood to houses. Only the colonial and woo houses could make use of this wood, while the 70s houses were left with no heat and no fireplaces. House chairs were responsible for checking on their residents, making sure everyone was okay and managing the outage. Stokes house chair, Tom Evans is acting as a liaison with the college to provide house chairs with updates on the snowstorm and outage. Evans is sitting in on senior staff member meetings and communicating important news to the student body.
Wednesday at 6:45am, a campus wide email was sent out canceling all classes Wednesday before noon. Two hours later at 9am, Dean of Student Life Li-Chen Chin sent out another email, announcing classes would be canceled for the entirety of the day. For employees, the email warned, “Non-essential union staff in Buildings and Grounds should remain at home given the limited services on campus.” The message also confirmed that it will still be a paid day for all staff members.
Buildings with backup generators, like Commons, Dickinson, and Crossett library are still open for normal use, where students can camp out for the day to use wifi and charge their devices. The Dining Hall is also operating normally. For ESA’s, all students are instructed to bring their pets to the library due to safety concerns (Crossett Zoo underway).
Some professors reached out to students attempting to hold classes as normal, despite the campus-wide cancellation, which cannot be made mandatory and students should not feel inclined to attend classes. A few professors are offering makeup classes over the weekend, while most are letting the storm take its course without rushing to make plans.
The school is working with Green Mountain Power to restore power and wifi as soon as possible. For any emergencies during the power outage, please contact Campus Safety at (802) 447-4250. Stay safe and warm!
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