It is the goal of SMU to remain open and hold classes as scheduled. However, if conditions warrant closing, the President in consultation with the SMU Police and the Provost will make that decision. Individual schools, colleges and departments are not authorized to make their own decisions on closings, delayed openings or cancellation of classes.
As soon as a decision is made, the following steps are taken to notify the university community:
Additionally, the Office of News and Communications will attempt to contact the news media by 6 a.m. if day classes must be cancelled. If it becomes necessary to cancel evening classes or events, News and Communications will attempt to contact the news media by 4 p.m.
SMU cannot guarantee that local media will announce closing information promptly or fully. Therefore, confirm information from non-SMU sources against official University communications.
SMU’s goal is to maintain the normal operations and educational processes of the University while remaining sensitive to safety concerns. Therefore, if SMU remains open, faculty, students and staff should report to their classrooms or offices as usual. If someone lives in an area that is affected by bad weather and feels that travel to campus would be an unreasonable safety risk, that individual should contact his or her supervisor or department head to discuss possible options, and students should contact their professors in advance. For staff members, an absence when SMU is officially open can be taken as vacation leave. Emergency service personnel are expected to report to work in any case to keep essential services and operations functioning.
Dining Services on the main SMU campus:
Dining services will be available even when the University closes because of inclement weather. For information about hours of operation for SMU Dining Services, please see: www.smudining.com or www.twitter.com/smudining.
Fondren Library on the main SMU campus:
Fondren Library expects to be closed when the University closes for inclement weather. However, please check for any schedule changes on the CUL homepage: http://sites.smu.edu/cul/.
SMU-in-Plano and other locations away from the main SMU campus:
Separate decisions regarding closings or cancellations will be made for the Plano and Taos campuses. Those campuses are not automatically affected when the main campus is closed, or they may be closed when the main campus is not, depending on local conditions.
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