East Coast Universities Freaking Out Over the Hurricane
As pretty much the entire Eastern Seaboard declared states of emergency in advance of Hurricane Irene, universities have also started changing around their plans as the storm chugs up from the Bahamas. This weekend was to be the move-in date for colleges up and down the coast, but it's hard to carry that mini-fridge up the stairs with category-four winds whipping glass shards into your face. So a lot of universities are delaying move-in day or, in a move that will not bode well for last-minute types, bringing it forward a day or two.
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New York University and Columbia postponed their Sunday move-ins to Monday after predictions placed Irene smack over Manhattan on Sunday. In the Washington, D.C. area, St. Mary's College of Maryland pushed back the first day of classes from Monday to Tuesday. Towson University has pushed back its move-in as well, and George Mason University, which has a "strict move-in schedule," according to the Washington Post, is abandoning all control and just telling students to get there whenever they safely can. Temple University moved its move-in date up, as did Harvard, which has already opened its residence houses to allow students to arrive ahead of the storm. Rutgers has told students at its New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses to arrive Saturday instead of Sunday, and has canceled the new student convocation ceremony slated for Sunday.
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If you're planning to matriculate somewhere on the East Coast this weekend, it would be wise to check with your school, if you haven't already done so. It's probably changed plans on you.
