The decision to issue a two-hour delay for Main campus is a collaborative effort and is usually based on actions taken by Albuquerque Public Schools.
UNM Main Campus did not follow APS because the announcement of the delay came 30 minutes after UNM had started, said Lt. Tim Stump, the public information officer for UNM police. However, he said officials would have canceled or delayed classes if conditions worsened during the day.
Stump said the decision to issue a two-hour delay or cancellation of school was made by David Harris, executive vice-president of administration, through the recommendation of police Chief Kevin McCabe. Often, the recommendation from McCabe comes from UNMPD officers, who survey the streets, and the Albuquerque Police Department.
“So basically you are getting an estimate from all around you on how bad the road conditions are and how bad the driving conditions are,” Stump said.
The decision to cancel or delay is based on judgment, there is no formal rubric in issuing a delay, he said.
“The University will not close during periods of inclement weather unless conditions are so severe as to endanger the University community,” according to administrative policy 3435.
Weather updates are provided through Lobo Alerts, emails and social media. The delay for UNM West was not posted to either UNM’s Facebook or Twitter pages.
Dianne Anderson, director of communications, said updates were not posted because the normal schedule of UNM was not changed and the delay only affected UNM West.
“The directors of each branch campus will determine if their respective campus will close. Weather conditions may be quite different at UNM West than at main campus, so the decision to delay or cancel or close will be made based on information pertinent to that campus,” she said.
Wynn Goering, chief executive officer for UNM West, said he makes the decision to issue a delay or cancellation for UNM West.
“We kind of weigh the safety risk versus what we know is the inconvenience of rescheduling classes and so on and we make the best judgment,” Goering said.
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UNM West canceled all classes that started after noon, Tuesday, because of staff recalling their accounts of dangerous road conditions on the way to school. Also, a few instructors called in, which gave an indication to Goering that the weather was unfavorable, he said.
Goering tries to issue delays or cancellations as earliest as possible. Wednesday, the alert for a two-hour delay was sent out close to 8 a.m. UNM West is still a relatively new campus and is still working out the kinks, he said.
Marissa Mora, a freshmen of international studies, said she was concerned about the weather as she drove to class Wednesday morning.
“It was really kind of scary driving over here in the morning because the roads were really slushy, I couldn’t even walk in a lot of the parts,” she said
A delay would have been safer, she said, but she did not see a need for a cancellation.
