Snowstorm Batters University

A blizzard dropped more than a foot of snow on Cambridge last night, leaving undergraduates hoping anxiously—and fruitlessly—for class cancellations while stranding hundreds of high school debaters in Harvard dorms and area hotels.

In what meteorologists called the worst storm the Northeast has seen in seven years, the blizzard hit the mid-atlantic states hardest, but packed a punch in Massachusetts as well.

A blizzard warning was in effect for the Boston area. Logan Airport saw accumulations of about a foot and a half by last night. A total of two feet is expected before the final flurries peter- out this evening.

While Boston and Cambridge declared snow emergencies, Massachusetts—unlike many of its neighbors to the south—did not declare a state of emergency.

Governor W. Mitt Romney ordered non-essential state workers to remain home today, while Cambridge closed administrative offices.

While the College planned to remain open as of press time, the Graduate School of Education, School of Public Health and Divinity School are closed today. The Law School cancelled classes until at least noon.

The storm did win some undergraduates a few hours extra sleep this morning, as several professors who were unable to reach campus cancelled their classes.

The 37 students in Economics 1052, “Introduction to Game Theory,” got a respite from today’s 10 a.m. lecture when they learned by e-mail yesterday that Assistant Professor of Economics Markus M. Mobius was stranded in Chicago. He promised to schedule a make-up.

Professor of Physics Mara Prentiss told students she might cancel Physics 15b, “Introductory Electromagnetism,” and postpone a problem set originally due Friday.

But Anne T. Doyle ’04 said she was “mildly disappointed” to learn that a response paper was due as scheduled even though her professor—stuck in New York—would be unable to make her social studies tutorial this afternoon.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 wrote in an e-mail that while he expected some professors and students might have trouble getting to Harvard, “since almost all College students are in residence, it makes sense to carry on operations and classes normally.”

The College last cancelled classes for snow in February 1978, when 27 inches of snow hit Massachusetts in the worst storm in state history.

Then-Governor Michael S. Dukakis declared a state of emergency forcing Harvard to cancel classes for three days.

Lewis wrote that the blizzard of 1978—which was blamed for 73 deaths and $500 million in damages in Massachusetts alone—presented far more dangerous conditions than yesterday and today’s snowfall.

While most Harvard undergraduates will have to brave the Cambridge sidewalks, some of the thousands of high school students who converged on Harvard for a debate tournament this weekend face a different challenge.

Students from more than 100 of the 300 schools that attended the tournament, which ended yesterday, were stranded in Cambridge after flights and trains were cancelled.

Some extended their stay in Harvard dorms, while others checked into area hotels.

Most of the debaters who will remain in Cambridge hailed from Florida or Texas, tournament director Sherry A. Hall said, and the snow caught some by surprise.

Southerner Krystle O. Sims, who travelled along with teammates from Riverside High School in New Orleans, had never seen snow before but grew quickly tired of the powdery white stuff.

“It was fun for the first ten minutes, but once the ice crystals got into your eye, it’s not cute anymore,” she said. “It builds up so fast, like Legos.”

The Riverside students said they planned to spend yesterday evening trying to eat dinner at the Cheers restaurant, and enjoying an amenity of their Kendall Square hotel—the hot tub.

Their fellow Southerners said they were unprepared for the havoc the snow played with suits and dress shoes.

“I didn’t know it could melt so fast and ruin clothes,” said Orlando native Patrick D. Brown. “I’m looking forward to a long day at Logan Airport.”

Debaters from Stuyvesant High School, whose home state of New York received over two feet of snow last night, took respite from the cold playing foosball and pool in Loker Commons.

“We tried to make the best of it,” said Leah A. Rabinowitz.

“It was so cold that we took the snow inside to have a snowball fight,” said teammate Shanai T. Watson. “That’s why the ground [in Loker] is so wet.”

—Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.