Asa Daniels, senior staff writer

Just this last weekend, Berry College experienced the first snowfall of 2022. Over the past two weeks, Berry experienced cold winter weather in general, with instances of rain and icy precipitation. This poses the risk for various winter-weather issues, including ice on roads from extreme temperatures.

Assistant Vice President of Campus Safety and Land Management Gary Will said that Berry prepares for such weather by being a StormReady campus. The National Weather Service (NWS) recertified Berry in November 2021 for this status.

According to the NWS, to be eligible for the certification, a campus must establish a 24-hour warning and emergency operations center, at least two ways for people to receive severe weather alerts and a way to warn the public. The school must also create a system that monitors local weather conditions, promote the importance of the public to be ready for such weather through seminars and develop a formal hazardous weather plan.

Will explained that the Berry Alert system and the outdoor sirens makes the alerts. He added that Berry is in communication with the NWS for forecasts. Depending on the predicted weather, different campus stakeholders are informed.

Berry police are on standby during forecasted severe weather and ready to provide assistance on-campus should the worst weather hit, according to Will.

“They will have some personnel prepared, if it’s necessary, to spend the night, work additional shifts, just so that they’re here and they’re not travelling to and from home or they can’t get from home to campus,” Will said.

He added that Berry police will also help pick up people who may be stuck in a certain location due to ice or other issues so that they can come to campus to work. Also, Berry has the necessary equipment to help address potential effects of severe weather like fallen trees on campus.

“[Land resources has] the heavy equipment, bulldozers or back hoes [and] we would work together to potentially preposition that heavy equipment on the campus and have it here in the event that it’s needed because trees have fallen across the road or any other number of things you would need heavy equipment to do to try to take care of the problem,” Will said.

Provost Mary Boyd explained that there is not a single, overall plan in place at Berry to address academic instruction should severe weather occur. This is based upon the belief that faculty are best suited for determining what to do to guarantee students get an education regardless of weather, according to Boyd.

“That has always been our practice, that professors know best how to teach the material, how to hold a class under different events and we trust they would do a fine job at that,” Boyd said. “We try to hold class whenever possible, that’s always been our practice here, and I think we would seek to find ways for faculty to ensure that the course meets all the standards and adapts.”

Boyd added that commuters are expected to assess the safety of leaving for campus after a weather event, like in the case of ice on the road, and to communicate with their professors if it is unsafe to travel to campus.

“We always encourage our commuters to use their best judgement,” Boyd said. “If they are in a situation where they do not think it is safe for them to travel, we encourage them to stay home. They should communicate with their faculty member directly, to let them know what’s going on and to find out ways to best make up any class work they were unable to attend to due to weather.”

Ian Mungo, Aramark general manager, said that the Dining Hall will continue to provide services even in the case of severe weather. This includes working with Residence Life for lodging on-campus for essential staff should severe weather potentially prevent off-campus travel. Local hotels can be used in case on-campus spacing is not available. Student workers will also be utilized in the case of emergency. Mungo added that the Dining Hall would be the first to operate on a limited basis, then moving up to other services, such as the P.O.D.

Mungo also added that plans are in place should power be lost to dining services for an extended period of time due to weather.

“We also order enough food to operate, as we do on a standard basis, two to three days out,” Mungo said. “We keep shelf stable food as well in case of an emergency, or any delivery issues. We have gas appliances available to us, as well as utilizing the shelf stable items that require no cooking. We also can move to disposable flatware and plates if we are unable to wash said items.”

Director of Facilities, Todd Bradford, explained that the Physical Plant at Berry has plans in place in case of forecasted severe weather, including ice and low temperatures.

“The Grounds crew has an action plan for icy roads, sidewalks and steps,” Bradford said. “As was recently implemented with projected winter weather over the MLK weekend, the grounds crew sprayed a brine on all campus roads on Friday before the storm, similar to what the Georgia Department of Transportation does on state roadways. They came in on Sunday ahead of the timeline for freezing temps and spread calcium-based melting agents on steps and walkways to the campus buildings.”

Bradford added that Physical Plant works with Berry’s electricians and outside contractors to help reestablish power, as well as the ground crew and contractors to remove fallen trees or other debris on campus. Additionally, new televisions were added inside the Physical Plant building to aid in forecasting.

“We recently installed cable TV and televisions in every shop at the physical plant,” Bradford said. “This allows supervisors to monitor the weather channel daily for any prediction of weather-related events.”

Will explained that it is important to appreciate the fact that severe weather requires the communication and working of various different entities at Berry in order for response to be timely and effective for the campus to maintain normal functions.

“There’s just a lot of different entities that are involved and not just, ‘okay, now the building’s open’ – what about getting the people here? The students, faculty, staff or whomever,” Will said. “And then you have the animals, you’ve got to have somebody here to milk the cows and to feed the animals so it’s not like you can just skip those things, those things have to be done.”

Bradford also explained that it is important for everyone to play a role in preparing for severe weather and being aware of what to do in any situation that may occur.

“Campus safety is a top priority for my staff and weather events are a significant issue we prepare and plan as part of our operations,” Bradford said. “But, safety during weather events is everyone’s responsibility. Students, staff and faculty should all be weather aware and know what to do in the event inclement weather is projected.”