When Jefferson Community College was making plans to build its first residence hall, there was one must-have for President Carole McCoy: generators for backup if the power went out.
With her campus in Watertown, New York in the bulls-eye of more than 100 inches of snow each year, she knew students might get stuck. They wouldn’t be cold and hungry.
“That was a non-negotiable,” McCoy said.
For college administrators, extreme weather is yet another hazard to prepare and practice for on a list that includes infectious disease outbreaks, active shooters and technological outages. They know it’s just a matter of time before a hurricane, earthquake, tornado, wildfire or winter storm could put them in harm’s way.
“We know that it can be very devastating and certainly have the potential to kill or injure as many people as the worst active shooter situation you could imagine,” North Carolina State University Police Chief Jack Moorman said, “so making sure that we’re prepared for it is essential.”
With more than 20 million students enrolled at 7,200 U.S. colleges and universities, higher education leaders say they rely on experience and expertise to think beyond the basics of food and shelter to the special challenges of academia, including keeping students and parents informed, accounting for students, both international and from this country, not easily evacuated, and continuing instruction and research.
Riding out Hurricane Matthew in her off-campus apartment in October, East Carolina University student Bobbie Jordan Thomas worried that her final semester plans were washing away with the floodwater that, before her eyes, was swallowing and destroying her beloved Toyota Corolla.
