To: Deans and Directors

From: Provost Katherine E. Fleming

Date: September 12, 2018

Sometimes severe weather disrupts University programing. During severe weather, advisories are issued to the entire University community, and information about closings and changes to University operations are posted at NYU’s  Info Alert page and appear as a banner on NYU’s website.

When the University is open during weather events, it is expected that all classes will be held as scheduled. Nevertheless, it is understood that there may be occasions when personal travel hazards lead faculty to cancel a class and/or students to miss a class.

Keeping in mind school-specific rules about class attendance and cancellations, faculty are expected:

  • to provide options for student commuters who are unable to attend class, such as reasonable accommodations for missed work and (where possible) exams, as well as lecture notes or videos posted on NYU Classes; and
  • in the event of an unavoidable class cancellation, to give their students and home departments as much advance notice as possible (preferably not less than three hours), taking into account that student commuters’ travel plans may also be affected.

Likewise, students are expected:

  • to provide sufficient advance notice to instructors if they need to miss class due to disrupted or hazardous transportation; and
  • to submit, without significant delay, assignments that were to be handed in during the class session.
The above is meant as general, not comprehensive, guidance. At heart, we rely on the good judgment of faculty and students to come up with common sense solutions in the face of weather-related non-attendance or class cancellations.