Here are three big Syracuse University and city of Syracuse stories you may have missed in the last few days.

Snow day

A full day of classes was canceled due to snow at SU for just the third time in its history on Friday. The university operated on “limited status” throughout the day. Only essential employees were required to report to SU, such as campus safety and emergency services, food services and residence hall staff.

Other employees, including administrators and faculty, were not required to come to work.

Students took advantage of the rare day off, taking photos in the snow or sledding down the hill near Crouse College, among other things.

Jackie Page, a senior international relations and television, radio and film dual major, posed for a photo with a “Speed Zone Ahead” sign before one of her friends jumped onto a snow tube, barreling down the Crouse College slope on Friday.

Schine Student Center remained open throughout the day. All events scheduled in Schine were expected to go on as planned, according to an email sent to the campus community Friday morning.

“The student centers never close,” said Bridget Yule, director of student centers and programming services. “We’re considered essential personnel for students to be able to go somewhere.”

Other regional colleges also canceled classes on Friday. Onondaga Community College, which is just southwest of SU, canceled classes. Binghamton University and Cornell University, both south of Syracuse, also canceled classes.

Services relocation

SU on Friday announced that it will relocate some offices out of the Health Services building on Waverly Avenue to make room for a future Counseling Center satellite office that will help supplement the center’s current space at 200 Walnut Place.

The university has extended Counseling Center hours this spring and plans to hire additional staff as part of the Invest Syracuse initiative, a $100 million academic fundraising goal. The Counseling Center will eventually be moved into the renovated Archbold Gymnasium, which is expected to be opened in fall 2019.

The Office of First-Year and Transfer Programs and the Office of Learning Communities will be moved to Schine Student Center, suite 235, according to a Friday SU News release. The Office of Health Promotion will be moved to 804 University Ave., Suite 110 — the former location of Syracuse University Ambulance, per the release.

Union vote

SUNY-ESF’s faculty union overwhelmingly voted to recommend President Quentin Wheeler’s contract not be renewed, according to an email obtained by The Daily Orange on Thursday.

The vote, conducted by United University Professions, comes after months of renewed tensions between SUNY-ESF faculty and administrators. UUP’s SUNY-ESF chapter members called the vote soon after the college abruptly removed three long-standing faculty department chairs in January.

Of the 177 union members who cast ballots, 85 percent voted to recommend Wheeler’s contract be terminated.

“Now it is clear and unmistakable that an overwhelming majority of UUP members at ESF have no confidence in President Wheeler and believe his contract should be non-renewed,” said Frederick Kowal, UUP’s president, in the email.

Published on March 4, 2018 at 9:19 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek