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BY LINDA HOU

In print | Published February 11, 2010

The second largest snowstorm in Pennsylvania’s history swept through the region last weekend, causing Worth Health Center to close as well as cancellations and postponement of various student events. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, not only was this weekend’s snowstorm the second largest snowstorm in Pennsylvania’s history but this also marks the snowiest winter ever recorded in Pennsylvania.

A second snowstorm began Tuesday evening and continued yesterday. At the time of publication, the National Weather Service predicted that there would be at least another foot of snow.

Several campus events were cancelled, including an Olde Club performance, a Dapper Dining event and a men’s and women’s doubleheader basketball game against John Hopkins University.

Despite these cancellations, the college will keep to its policy of not cancelling classes.

“Students live on campus and can manage coming to class in the snow. Many faculty live very close to campus and typically can also come to class in the snow,” Registrar Martin Warner said in an e-mail. “That said, everyone should keep in mind that shuttle vans will likely be delayed or not run at all, so it might be best for students to stay on our beloved campus in snowy weather.”

Yesterday, however, the college was closed for all employees classified as “non-essential,” according to the college’s website. The website said that “employees classified essential should report as directed by their supervisor.”

Sharples Dining Hall and Worth Health Center were open yesterday.

On Saturday, however, Worth was closed because the nurse working that day could not get to the college given the traffic conditions. Director of Student Health Services Beth Kotarski said that this was not a big problem and no students were affected by the closing of Worth, noting that no students stayed overnight.

“We felt like even if the students were sick, we wouldn’t have wanted them to go through the snow anyways. We would’ve liked them to call the nurse on call,” Kotarski said.

During the time that Worth was closed on Saturday night, Kotarski said that two students went to the hospital. Kotarski declined to comment on what they went to the hospital for, but said, “We wouldn’t have done anything other than send those students to the hospital as soon as possible” even if the health center had been open.

Although Sharples was open as usual, the snack bar was closed on both Saturday and Wednesday, and silverware at Sharples was replaced with plastic over the weekend. Dining Services Director Linda McDougall said that although Sharples generally has a staff of 33 on Saturdays, there were only 13 to 17 staff members last Saturday, with some staff working from 6:30 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. McDougall said that in preparation for the snowstorm, Sharples bought paper back-up plates in advance and tried to get 90 percent of the food deliveries a day early.

Vice President for Facilities and Services Stuart Hain said that, in preparation for snow days, both Sharples and grounds staff stay overnight in various places on campus as a part of snowstorm plan. Although most of the Sharples staff, including some who live 20 miles away, were able to come to work, there also were many who couldn’t.

“Some of the people who work in the dining hall are from the intermediate unit, and they’re students with disabilities, and we don’t generally make them come,” Hain said.

Hain added that on Tuesday night, six Sharples staff and six grounds staff members stayed overnight at the Ashton House, the College guesthouse, in anticipation for the snow. Hain said that in the past, they have stayed over at various empty houses on campus.

The six grounds staff members plowed the paths overnight. During overnight snowstorms, the grounds staff cleans the paths from student dorms to the dining hall first. For snowstorms that occur in the daytime, the staff clears the paths from dorms to academic buildings first.

Nicole Lewis, a ground staff member, said that the staff worked overtime over the weekend and will probably continue to work until late today.

“Today we’re working until at least dinnertime,” Lewis said. “Normally, we get off at 3:30 p.m. … But today we’ll stay until we get the job done.”

Both the Public Safety-run evening campus shuttles and the Student Budget Committee-run campus, movie and Media shuttles were all shut down during the snowstorms.

SBC Manager Simon Zhu said that because the SBC shuttles are driven by students and not professional drivers, many request to not drive during snow days. Further, the SBC shuttle coordinator will also make the decision to stop driving when the roads are dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer said that Saturday’s storm caused SEPTA to implement a new policy to close routes in bad conditions.SEPTA was closed during both snowstorms.

The college is not alone in dealing with the snow. Swarthmore Borough Manager Jane Billings estimates that the borough spent $5,000 to $6,000 in snow removal last weekend. The snow also caused most shops at the Ville to close. By 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Cheng Hing was the only restaurant open in the Ville, and it remained open during both storms. The only other places open were the Bryan Lentz office, the pawn shop and the post office, which closed at 3 p.m.

“This [snow] was significant because it came on the weekend. Saturdays are usually important business days, so having a storm on the weekend is really bad for the shops,” Director of Swarthmore Town Center Marty Spiegel said.

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