Ice storm disrupts schedules

ONLINE UPDATE:Clases have been cancelled for Monday, February 17, 2003, as of shortly before 10 a.m.

Administrators canceled all classes scheduled to meet before noon today and instituted its severe weather policy for the entire University and Medical Center, following the fall of about a half of an inch of freezing rain and sleet across the Triangle Sunday.

The icy rain was supposed to trail off by 5 a.m., but officials decided that roads would be too treacherous to expect faculty to drive to campus and for buses to navigate the slippery roads during the morning.

Canceled classes include those that begin at 11:50 a.m., and information on afternoon and evening Monday classes will be posted before 10 a.m.

"It is all a matter of a few degrees of temperature, whether the front goes a few miles north or south," Provost Peter Lange wrote in an e-mail. "Hence, it seems better to wait since canceling more classes than necessary is to be avoided. Two hours at the minimum will be sufficient time for those who need to come in to do so, should afternoon and evening classes be held."

The severe weather policy was put in effect through the end of the first shift for employees Monday. Essential staff members were told to report to or remain at work.

Sunday's storm was not as severe as the one that hit the area hard in early December, prompting officials to postpone the last day of fall semester classes by a day and paralyzing much of the state with power outages and fallen tree limbs.

By 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Duke Power officials reported interrupted service to approximately 7,500 customers of its 2.2 million customer base in the Carolinas. The power company faced intense criticism in December after taking more than a week in some cases to restore power.