While a record 82.3 inches of snow shut down much of Buffalo and grabbed national headlines during winter break, UB administrators and students remaining on campus were left none the worse for wear, due in part to emergency preparedness plans that have been improved upon with each successive storm.
During the five days from Christmas Eve until Dec. 28, which saw nearly as much snow fall as during an average winter in Buffalo, UB was closed only for one day, and was able to maintain basic operations and keep roads in drivable condition, a task made easier due in part to mother nature's timing.
"From a university perspective, you can't pick a better week for a storm than between Christmas and New Year's," said Dennis Black, vice president for Student Affairs. According to Black, UB administrators were prepared for the snow, "but nobody was expecting eight feet in so short a time."
Although essential staff at the university were still arriving for work when the blizzard began, and some 700 students were still on campus, the most dire problems were "a couple of accidents requiring towing," according to John Grela, director of University Police. As a driving ban was in place in Amherst and the city of Buffalo during the storm, "most people stayed off the roads, as there weren't many places to go anyways."
Managing campus safety during emergency snow conditions is nothing new for Grela or UB. The International Association of College Law Enforcement Administrators uses a storm preparedness model based largely on the report of UB's police force from the infamous blizzard of 1977.
Director of Residence Halls and Apartments Joseph Krakowiak said that apart from plowing concerns at Flint Village, 10 apartment lock-outs were the biggest problems reported among students living on campus.
During the storm, teams of university facilities workers, many working on overtime and some called in from vacation, worked to ensure that UB's crucial services such as heating, food and health were still in place, along with around-the-clock plowing efforts to accommodate the number of people at the university during break, according to Michael Dupre, associate vice president for university facilities.
In addition, Dupre said the state has been able to provide more money to facilities for continual capital improvement efforts such as roof rebuilding and other preventive measures that pay off during heavy precipitation.
Unlike the rest of UB, which is plowed by university facilities, the apartments are managed directly by the University Residence Halls and Apartments.
"We made sure we didn't just have one vendor," said Krakowiak. "With the three contractors we currently have, we're assured that we won't be left hanging."
Both students and administrators noted that the December storm was much less problematic than last year's blizzard before Thanksgiving break. "That was mostly a problem of everyone trying to get out at the same exact time," said Grela. "This time, the city and the university staggered the times they let people out."
Black noted that the university added a hotline for students seeking information on emergency notifications or other news.
UB students trapped on campus during the storm adapted to the situation, and remnants of snow forts and other winter creations can be found surrounding the apartment complexes.
Julia Kameron stayed in her Hadley Village apartment over break waiting for a flight leaving Buffalo Niagara International Airport for Italy on Dec. 30. Suddenly without work or viable transportation, she and fellow seniors Jennifer Egloff and Julie Winkleman took to playing board games, watching TV and passing the time however they could.
Although "it was easier to shovel to my car than to walk to it," all in all, Egloff said the experience "wasn't all that bad. ... We went to Wegmans, picked up cookie dough and beer and had a good time."
"We're almost to calling it our 'annual snowed-in experience,'" she added.
Not every student was completely satisfied with the performance of the university apartments' independent contractors, however.
Kirsten Winninghoff, who returned to her law student apartment in Flint Village on Thursday, Dec. 27, arrived to what she said was an unplowed lot and very little assistance.
Winninghoff called both the Flint Village office and the University Police. "The impression they gave me was that there was nothing they could do. ... It was an independent contractor and they had no idea when they'd have it plowed."
