Ice storm forces campus to close

Dallas College campuses were closed from Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. until Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. due to the ice storm that made North Texas look like an ice-skating rink.

On Monday afternoon, the district started to send the inclement weather alerts through social media, texts and phone calls so students, faculty and staff could be prepared and ready to leave campus before the storm hit.

For the next four days, campuses remained closed due to the dangerous conditions to drive and be outside in general.

“The campus was closed for several days due to the inclement weather, specifically there being severe ice, so for the safety of the campus, we closed down and make sure that we didn’t have any classes or any students on campus for that reason,” officer Jasmine Huntsberry of the campus police, said.

From that Monday evening, the updates from the district about the weather conditions kept coming through all kinds of media because by Tuesday morning the Richland campus and most of North Texas was covered with a thick layer of ice.

“All Dallas College CLASSES WILL REMAIN ONLINE, and all locations will be closed Thursday, Feb. 2, due to bad weather. Students: please check eCampus and your email for announcements from instructors. Student services will be available remotely. Stay safe and warm!” Messages like this were sent over and over trough Facebook and Twitter.

According to Kelly Sonnanstine, coordinator of new student orientation at the Office of Student Life, events were postponed due to the weather. After the week of weather interruption though, everything was expected to return to normal. .

For Over 4 Days

“It will be like we’re doing twice as much stuff this week. But by next week, we’ll be back on schedule,” Sonnanstine said.

According to Sonnanstine, the date changing was positive because it allowed a couple of clubs get into the fair.

According to officer Huntsberry, the only damage that she observed is the pitching practice tents used for baseball. She said she assumes they collapsed due to the weight of ice.

Dallas campuses reopened Feb. 4 with only a little bit of ice and a temperature of 52 degrees, which was Mother Nature surprising us one more time with extreme weather changes.