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Campus Announcements Campus Life

Weather and other emergency closing procedures

When severe weather requires changes to Miami's normal schedule, there are three ways to access and/or receive emergency weather closing information.

Campus Announcements Campus Life

Weather and other emergency closing procedures

When severe weather requires changes to Miami's normal schedule, there are three ways to access and/or receive emergency weather closing information:

  1. The official reference is the university website, www.miamioh.edu. The Miami Regionals website is www.MiamiOh.edu/Regionals.
  2. You’ll also receive information via your Miami University email account.
  3. Make sure your information is up-to-date for the emergency text messaging system. Go to www.miamioh.edu/police and click the Emergency Text Messaging System link. You may create an account as well. Check your account annually to make sure it’s current.

Local radio and TV stations receive weather-related campus closing/class cancellation notices from Miami. But, they may edit the notice, so the university cannot ensure the media’s accuracy.

Three designations for campus schedule changes

Campuses will be designated as “open,” “open but classes canceled” or “closed.”

If the campus is closed, only weather emergency staff* will report to work. Do not call 911 or the police department to find out if Miami is closed.

Please check notices for each campus since it is possible one campus is holding classes while another cancels classes.

If a campus is reporting closed and/or all classes canceled that includes face-to-face, hybrid and online.

All university staff

When the university is open, even when classes are canceled, all employees are expected to work as scheduled (continuing their approved temporary pandemic work arrangements.)

If weather prevents an employee from working as scheduled the employee is expected to follow the normal call-in procedures. For all classified employees scheduled to work on campus, failure to call in is considered a no-call/no-show; the employee will not be paid for that day and could face disciplinary actions. Unclassified staff are also required to follow normal call-in procedures.

Calling off due to severe weather

Employees are required to request vacation, comp time, or personal time in advance. Individuals scheduled to work on campus who call off due to weather conditions when the university is not closed must use the appropriate paid time off. The University will follow the applicable collective bargaining agreements and/or university policies for absences and/or no call/no shows; for AFSCME employees a call off will count as an occurrence per the collective bargaining agreement and all employees may face disciplinary action.

Department managers who need on-campus staff during a weather emergency should do two things:

a) Be sure staff know if they are designated weather emergency staff. Classified employees so designated will receive severe weather pay.

b) Be sure staff know they are not to come to work when the campus is closed unless told to do so. The amount of staff required during weather and other emergency closing situations depends on factors such as whether students are in the residence halls, the extent of weather damage, and/or the availability of electricity. Supervisors must tell employees prior to any emergencies whether they are designated as weather emergency staff.

Classified employees who report to work on-campus when the university is closed and who are not designated as weather emergency staff will not receive severe weather pay.

Employees working remotely are expected to continue to work and are not eligible for severe weather pay.

Weather emergency staff

Weather emergency staff who are not able to come to campus to work when the campus is closed are expected to follow the normal call-in procedure. For classified employees, failure to call in is considered a no-call/no-show; the employee will not be paid for that day, and they could face disciplinary action. The University will follow the applicable collective bargaining agreements and/or university policies for absences and/or no call/no shows; for AFSCME employees a call off will count as an occurrence per the collective bargaining agreement, and all employees may face disciplinary action. Unclassified staff are also required to call in according to normal call-in procedures.

Transitional staff

Two hours after the university closes and two hours before the university opens is considered transition time.

Selected transitional staff may need to be on-site to lock/open the buildings and prepare for business. Transitional staff will be identified by their supervisors prior to any weather emergency.

When the Oxford campus is closed, all facilities are closed. This includes the libraries, Goggin, recreational sports center, etc. There are some special considerations:

  • If an intercollegiate athletic event is scheduled, the athletic director will confer with the president to determine whether or not the event will be canceled.
  • If a fine arts event is scheduled, the director of the performing arts series will confer with the provost and president to determine whether or not the event will be canceled.
  • If a weather emergency occurs during finals week, the provost and president will determine whether or not the libraries will remain open.
  • If an event at the Regionals is scheduled, the Regionals dean or her designee will determine if the event will be canceled.