Being located in northern New England, Dartmouth is often subject to severe winter weather. Dartmouth’s scheduled operations are rarely interrupted because, among other concerns, it has a predominantly residential student population and both the College Health Service and Dartmouth Medical School providers are needed for certain critical patient services. Even in inclement weather conditions, employees should assume unless they receive further notice that operation will continue on a “business as usual” basis.
Dartmouth makes decisions on curtailing all or part of its normal operations in the early morning hours of stormy days. Employees and students are notified via the D2U announcement system prior to 7 am. We will also post a message on the Dartmouth homepage and this Emergency Preparedness page; leave a recorded message on the College's Inclement Weather Phone Line (1-888-566-SNOW or 1-888-566-7669); and notify local media outlets. Individual offices may choose to cancel or postpone scheduled events or activities, but the decision to close down needs to be made centrally.
Even if the College curtails operations, essential services will need to continue. Supervisors should talk with their staff about how they will meet the essential operations of the College as well as their expectations around coverage. Clearly, individual employees need to assess whether the road conditions or family circumstances might cause them to remain at home.
Students should expect to hear directly from their faculty if classes will not meet. Unless the governor or other state officials request the College to close down, decisions on class cancellations will be controlled by individual faculty.
For more information, see the Dartmouth College Inclement Weather Policy.
