Ashland University experienced cold weather conditions last week, forcing the cancellation of classes Monday and Tuesday as well as causing water line breaks and heating problems around campus.

Vice President of Facilities Management and Planning Rick Ewing explained the procedures for cancelling classes.

He said he and the provost, president and the communications/public relations department all play a role when debating whether to cancel classes. He indicated that the president’s office makes the final decision after considering this input. 

Ewing spoke with the provost Jan. 3 as well as Monday and Tuesday about the buildings and how they would be affected by the cold. These concerns along with the cold, snow and ice resulted in the cancellation of classes.

Although school did not begin until Wednesday, many students came back to campus during the day on Sunday.  They hoped to avoid driving in the snow and ice predicted in the forecast for later in the evening on Sunday and Monday.

“I was worried the roads would be bad on Tuesday,” Kelly Ranttila said. “They were fine Sunday afternoon.”

She said that many people in her dorm returned Sunday as well with similar intentions of arriving on campus ahead of the storm. 

Overall, students enjoyed the additional two days off from school before starting the semester.  With no classes, homework or other school obligations, many individuals stayed inside Monday and Tuesday. Ranttila said that people in her dorm watched movies in the lobby or socialized.

Despite the early closing of the Eagles Nest, uncertainty surrounded students, particularly about the location to eat. 

The university used texting and email to communicate announcements to students. 

“They sent around a text message saying that the dorms and convo were open,” Eileen Navratil said.

Many students were not expecting that the university would make the decision to close.

Senior James Kirtland said that the university has only cancelled classes once or twice during his time at AU. He said it was from snow or ice rather than the low temperatures. 

“It surprised me that they cancelled two days in a row,” he said.

Although Ashland did not receive as much snow or ice as anticipated, various buildings around campus were affected by the cold weather.  

Ewing said that a major water line broke inside the Patterson building boiler room and caused water damage on some of the controls on the boilers.  However, the damage was not extensive and the controls could be repaired.

He also indicated that a few water lines froze in the Phi Delt house.  On the other side of campus, minor sprinkler breaks occurred in Kettering and the Senior Apartments. In addition, a small water line broke in the Sarver Field baseball locker rooms.

“Considering the extreme temperatures and the fact that we have 42 buildings, just to have a couple incidents like that we were pretty satisfied with the way we got through the cold spell,” Ewing said.

Ewing said all of the repairs are now completed and in total cost a couple hundred dollars.

Besides the water line breaks, the university also faced issues with the heating system in some of the buildings on campus. Ewing indicated that the university took numerous preventative measures to ensure that the buildings would be heated properly for students and staff.

“In this case we knew that it was coming and we turned the buildings completely on high so that we could overheat the buildings slightly,” Ewing said. “When the temperatures extremes hit we weren’t trying to make up as much of a difference”

However, problems with units in Kettering, Schar and the Rec Center resulted in colder temperatures in these buildings.  They provided heaters for people with cold offices until the problems were corrected.

Ewing said that another effective strategy involved taking the time and visiting all of the buildings to ensure that the weather had not caused any damage or other issues.