The cold, northern winds swept down over the lakes of upstate New York – still relatively warm from an unseasonably temperate fall – and pelted the Central New York region with a downpour of snow beginning late Monday afternoon and finally calming to flurries late Tuesday morning.

But this is the winter season in Syracuse, N.Y., and the university did not cancel classes or send faculty, staff and students home.

The decision was made during a series of phone calls early Tuesday morning between Chief Financial Officer Lou Marcoccia, the administration’s point-man on school closing, and the Physical Plant director, Allan Breese. The two men spoke at 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. before deciding that they could plow the roads, sidewalks and parking lots before classes began at 8 a.m.

‘It’s much more challenging when the snow comes early in the morning when classes are about to begin,’ Marcoccia said. ‘Most of the snow came in the evening last night.’

Breese said he knew it would be a challenging day for his crews, but considering it takes between one-and-a-half to two hours for the plowing routes to be run through, classes would be held. Snow removal ‘is an art, as well as a challenge,’ he said.

The Onondaga Country executive, Nicholas Pirro, had issued a travel advisory early Tuesday morning, but Marcoccia said it was a low level warning and weather forecasts predicted the snowfall would cease early enough during the day to carry on.

‘The protocol is always to have school,’ Marcoccia said, adding that cancellation is more of an exception. ‘This is Syracuse, N.Y. It’s going to snow.’

The city’s schools were closed, but that was due to sidewalks that couldn’t be shoveled in time. There is a difference between small children and students, at least older than 18, walking through the snowy condition, Marcoccia said.

The area received at least 1 foot of snow during the past two days and 2 to 4 inches are predicted for today. A lake effect snow warning was in effect throughout the day Tuesday.

‘Considering the snow we had, we did considerably well,’ Breese said of the 75 SU employees that were out shoveling snow and driving plows through whipping winds and heavy downfall. ‘It’s never perfect, it’s never good enough. We can always do it better or more effectively.’

Throughout the day, Breese was in contact with student housing officials, the Department of Public Safety and Parking Services, measuring how well their endeavors were progressing.

Breese said he was only aware of one accident resulting from the weather, a one-vehicle accident on South Campus. But dozens of accidents were reported throughout Onondaga County.

While heavy snow is predicted for the next few days, students should not expect classes to be affected by the winter weather. The timing – at the end of the semester in the midst of final exam preparations and essay deadlines – did play a factor in Marcoccia’s decision.

‘I want to cause as little disturbance there as possible,’ he said of the exam weeks. Adding that he ‘is not here’ to cancel an exam a student has been preparing for and that any school-wide rescheduling of exams would not lead to a positive situation.

While Marcoccia recognizes that ‘some people will take issue any time it snows,’ he did not hear many complaints, and Centro buses were only running five to 10 minutes off schedule. ‘We put a high emphasis on making sure walkways are clear,’ he said.

While the recent snow did not lead to an unexpected day off for students, Breese, from Physical Plant, said it was ‘an interesting snowfall,’ adding that winds can be just as big of a problem as snow itself for the crews. The winds reached 15 to 19 mph Tuesday.

The last time that SU ended classes and sent home students, faculty and staff was on Feb. 14 earlier this year; the university cannot completely shut down, as many students live on campus and rely on it for services such as meals.

Marcoccia said the circumstances were different during that situation as the county put out a higher level of travel advisory, the city was under more pressure to remove snow from side streets and Centro was further behind schedule than it was Tuesday.

‘These conditions didn’t exist this time,’ he said.

And while the last week of classes may turn out to be a very snowy one, students should not expect the weather to bail them out of any finals.

‘If you have an exam tomorrow, I would advise you to study tonight,’ Marcoccia said jokingly.

Published on December 4, 2007 at 12:00 pm