HURRICANE IRENE – UPDATE 9/1 10:00 a.m.

UPDATE 9/1  10:00 a.m.

Power has been restored to all wood-framed senior housing. Frosh, transfer and international students have arrived, and all other students are welcome to return beginning Saturday, Sept. 3, starting at 9:00 a.m. Welcome back!

UPDATE 8/30 2:45 p.m.

Freeman Athletic Center has power and is now open.

Faculty, staff and their partners and dependents who do not have power in their own residences and would like to use the shower facilities at Freeman are welcome to do so. The entrances are open from 7 am to 7 pm through Friday; 11 am to 6 pm during the weekend. Please remember to bring your Wesleyan ID for access.

UPDATE 8/29 5:45 p.m.

Although most of the campus had power on Monday, Freeman Athletic Center and a number of wood-frame houses lost power Sunday afternoon and remained without it today. Wesleyan has been notified that power may be restored to Freeman Athletic Center very soon, but timing for the senior houses is less certain. Residential Life will provide further information to students in the affected houses.

UPDATE 8/28 4:30 p.m.

Wesleyan will be open for business as usual on Monday, Aug. 29. Some trees and branches came down around campus, but no buildings were affected; power and Internet are available.

Students who deferred their arrival from Sunday are welcome to come to campus on Monday.

For employees, Wesleyan’s normal adverse weather policy is in effect. It states:

“During adverse weather conditions, employees should use their judgment about coming to work or leaving early. For personal reasons, employees may feel that they need to leave work early or arrive late. Employees must advise their supervisor of their decision. Based upon the needs of the employee’s department, alternative arrangements may be made with a supervisor’s prior approval. Reasonable requests will not be denied. In these circumstances, non-exempt employees will be required to make up the time or use leave time to get paid. Exempt employees who do not report for work must use accrued vacation time. Supervisors will work with their employees to provide adequate coverage.”

HURRICANE IRENE – WARNING 8/26

Hurricane Irene is expected to reach Connecticut this Sunday. Although there is still some uncertainty regarding the track of the storm, we expect very high winds and torrential rain. Some flooding and power disruptions seem likely at this point. Since the safety of our students, faculty and staff must be our top priority, we are providing the following instructions given the information currently available to us:

Students who are already on campus
Some students (those here for the summer, graduate students, RAs, etc.) are already on campus. These students should be prepared to evacuate their residences to a secure campus location, and Public Safety will provide instructions if this becomes necessary. (We suggest preparing an “emergency kit” of the personal items  – pillow, blanket, flashlight, medications, etc. – needed in case of evacuation. Also consider having a three-day supply of water and food that does not require refrigeration.) Students who are able to leave campus to return home or to stay with a relative/friend are encouraged to do so – we suggest that you leave campus by noon on Saturday.

Students scheduled to arrive this weekend
We expect students scheduled to arrive this weekend to delay their arrival until Monday. International students who may be in transit have already received instructions via e-mail from the Office of International Student Affairs.

New student arrival
New students are scheduled to arrive next Wednesday, August 31. At this point, we expect to be able to welcome new students to campus as planned.

Faculty and staff
Unless the university provides further guidance via the emergency notification system, faculty and staff should follow our standard guidelines for inclement weather when deciding if they should report to work on Monday.

We will provide updates to these instructions via our emergency notification system (cell phone/e-mail) if necessary. Our campus emergency response team will be working closely with Public Safety throughout this event. Please contact Public Safety at 860-685-2345 or 860-347-8000 if you need assistance during the storm.