How The Recent Storm Disrupted Many Students First Few Weeks Back
Read Time:3 Minute, 1 Second
On January 21, 2026 weather stations began reporting on a massive snowstorm that would hit the entire Mid-Atlantic region. The storm hit the Rutgers–Camden campus, blanketing the area in ice and snow as students were returning to campus for the spring semester.
On Friday January 23, 2026 at 6:49 PM all Rutgers Camden students received an email from Henry X. Velez, the Interim Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. In it he informed the students that for both Sunday January 25, 2026 and Monday January 26, 2026 the University would remain open but classes were to be moved to virtual instruction. Instructors were given a choice between synchronous or asynchronous learning. Department heads were also asked to allow remote work whenever possible. On Tuesday January 27, 2026 classes returned to in person instruction.
During this period the University Libraries’ buildings were closed, and the reference services provided by the library were transitioned to fully virtual. Dining services did not alter their operating hours, and Cooper Street Hospitality worked with Facilities and RUPD so that $10 meals were available for essential staff. The health and wellness center remained open, but also moved to fully virtual. Students who needed food from the Raptor’s Nest Food Pantry had the ability to request an emergency food bag at the front desk. If these food bags ran out they were informed they could be escorted to the pantry by Residence Life staff. The outer parking lots were also closed and the buses were not running.
A student at Rutgers–Camden, Kay Irwin, shared her experiences involving the aftermath of the storm. She stated, “Even when the university resumed in person classes instead of staying on zoom, the roads and walkways were still in horrible condition.” Kay continued, “Residents were told to move their cars at 12:00 a.m. with little to no notice for a snow plow that wasn’t scheduled to come until 10:00 a.m. the following morning. This was extremely frustrating and unsafe.”
The students were first informed of needing to move their cars through an email sent out from Rutgers Camden Housing. In the email they were instructed to temporarily move their cars to any other Rutgers lot so a snow plow could come through and plow the lot.
Dr. Keith Green, Associate Professor of English and Communications and Director of the African Studies Program, switched his Intro to Disability Studies class to online on the 27th despite classes returning to in person instruction. He stated that the reason why he chose to do this was because, “I was getting so many messages from students who just had difficulties getting out of their parking lots.”
Dr. Green felt that the actual campus was cleared very well by the grounds people, but understood issues for students in and around Camden, not on campus, “…the issue that we have is that the campus and the city [of Camden] are really interconnected.” In regards to whether Rutgers made the right decision returning to in person instruction the 27th he shared, “I would say that I can see the rationale behind opening the campus back up, there are a lot of services that we provide.”
Kay Irwin stated, “There was so much snow and ice that it was difficult to even want to leave my room.” Dr. Green pointed out that it’s up to those with power in the university and the city to sometimes make difficult decisions. The roads surrounding the Rutgers campus are not the responsibility of the Rutgers grounds people to clear, but Camden’s.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
