Severe weather can happen unexpectedly and impact your classes, exams and other aspects of your regular schedule – especially during the winter months!
When weather conditions become a concern for the safety of our community, the university may announce a closure at one or more of our campuses and locations. If severe weather is in the forecast for our areas, you should know where to look for potential announcements from the university, as well as what a closure means for you.
Where You Find Out
The Campus Status page is the first place where updates will be communicated in the event of a severe weather closure. You can also find information through:
In the absence of a communicated decision to close, the university remains open and all activities continue as planned. There will be situations where some campuses or locations are affected by weather conditions and others are not. Open campuses and locations continue with normal operations.
When You Find Out
The timing of the announcement depends on the duration of the closure. You can expect an announcement by:
- 6:30 a.m. to close for the entire day and night
- noon to close for the afternoon
- 6 p.m. to close for the evening
What's Cancelled?
A severe weather closure means the cancellation of all in-person classes, in-person exams, including in-person mid-terms, and in-person services or events at the closed campus or location.
All virtual classes, virtual exams, including virtual mid-terms are not cancelled and remain as scheduled.
Essential services remain open, including Special Constables Services, Food Services, Facilities and Assets Management, etc.
Classes
All in-person classes are cancelled on the closed campus(es). Instructors may choose to reschedule classes or provide access to asynchronous learning activities for courses.
Virtual courses are not cancelled and remain as scheduled.
Exams and Midterms
All in-person examinations, including in-person midterms, on the closed campus(es) are cancelled. Any centrally scheduled examinations cancelled will be rescheduled by the Office of the Registrar.
All virtually administered examinations, including virtually administered midterms, remain as scheduled.
If your exam is cancelled it will need to be moved to another date. This is why it’s important that you do not make any commitments, such as vacation plans, during the entire examination period. You’re required to be available for exams during the examination periods of all terms you are registered for.
Some final exams for the same course are held at the same time across multiple Laurier campuses. If one campus closes, all the exams for this course will be cancelled to maintain academic integrity. This means that even if your campus remains open, your exam may be cancelled. Communications about campus closures will include details on any affected exams.
Assignments and Other Work
Deadlines for in-person assignment submissions and other required in-person submissions, on the closed campus(es), are postponed until the same hour on the next weekday that the campus is open.
Deadlines for assignments and other required work to be submitted virtually (e.g. Dropbox, discussion board posts), must be submitted as scheduled and are not impacted by campus closures.
Events and Services
All on-campus events are cancelled and in-person university services are closed. Organizers for online events will determine and communicate if the online events will continue as usual. Access to online university services will continue in the usual manner.
Accommodating Poor Weather
There may be times when the university remains open during poor weather conditions that do not require a severe weather closure. If you feel it is unsafe to travel based on personal circumstances, or if you require flexibility because conditions have caused closures for other services, contact your instructor directly and discuss any class work or assignments you may miss.
Instructors are not required to accommodate these requests, but they may choose to do so when feasible. For final examinations, you can petition for a deferred exam.
