Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
By Maureen Brioux- Jollymore
No. of pages 2
The Ice Storm of 1998 presented Queen’s University with some very unique problems. The first being the physical safety of staff, faculty and students as many of the pathways and streets surrounding the campus were strewn with fallen branches and downed hydro wires. The second was the lack of power to 7 out of the 12 residence buildings, affecting more than 3000 students. The other major concern was the disruption of academic classes by the need to close the University down for almost a week while the City and region attempted to recover from the devastating effects of the storm.
to Mr. Alvin Wood from the Information Technology Services, about the only thing that was working on campus was the computer network and that was because someone 20 years ago had the foresight to place all the fibre optic cables along side the steam ducts which run underground. In buildings connected to the Clergy Street transformer station which did not lose power, the network was utilised by the staff in the Communications Department to keep students and parents informed of the school closure and reopening.
Ms. Anne Kershaw and Mary Anne Beaudette from the Communication Department had the task of keeping the staff, students and faculty informed of all Storm updates from January 8th until the school re-opened on the 15th. Their innovative use of the existing voice mail systems, email and web pages made the task of keeping information updated easier in an environment where the local television and radio stations were not always operating, because of the damage to the transmitter tower on Wolfe Island. Because of the school closure and 3000 displaced students this information transmission was vital.
Dr. Graham Brown, Director of Residences, and his staff faced the emergency with determination. They were faced with 7 out of the 12 residences without power and 2 out of the 3 dining halls shut down and 3000 hungry, cold students. From the mobilisation of Dons and Floor Seniors into the formation of teams to do building checks to a fire in Leonard Hall to the decision to close the 7 residence buildings the staff worked long and hard to make everyone comfortable and safe.
Mr. George Hutson and the staff at Physical Plant had the arduous task of repairing the damage to the buildings and grounds. The grounds crew were working 12 hour shifts in cold, dark conditions. The trades people called in to assist often had to find their way to Queen’s through poor road conditions, often leaving their own homes in darkness. The major culprit for the loss of power was the above ground sub-station located on Centre Street. When the tree branches were brought down with the weight of the ice, they took with them the overhead wires to the sub-station. This sub-station supplies the power to the buildings located on and near Stuart Street. Out of the 1500 trees that surround the main campus, almost half require flush cutting and 68 need to be removed. Arbourists from the Hamilton and Waterloo areas came to Kingston prepared to assist in cleaning the tree debris. Only time will tell how many of these mature trees will recover from the storm. Many shortfalls in the buildings’ construction were discovered such as the different wattage each building has making hooking up a central generator impossible. Physical Plant wasn’t the only one to discover things about Queen’s that would not have normally been discovered without the storm.
Principal Bill Leggett was soon to discover that simply extending the academic year was not viable because of the student leasing conditions. Most students had to be out of their accommodations by April 30 and the extension of the school year would have presented problems to those students. The administration found that the emergency meetings were the most exhilarating times of their tenure. They had two daily meetings in which one was a “to do” meeting and the second was a reporting of the things done. They were concerned that the students didn’t lose any academic time and so rescheduling the remaining term was a priority.
Principal Legget had been in Vancouver when the Storm struck and delegated the decision making process to Vice Principals Cowan and Turpin.
Dr. Bob Crawford, Dean of Student Services, made sure that the information between students and the administration was current and timely. He spent most of his time acting as the messenger between students, residences and the administration. He helped deal with the students’ anxiety over lost class time and cold accommodations. He opened his home to any student that needed a place to stay.
Queen’s has made lists of what worked well and what didn’t work well. On the top of the list of what didn’t work well was the delay in announcing the University’s closure. What worked well was the tremendous effort of the staff and administration in their teamwork and dedication to get the University back on line in the shortest amount of time.
Queen’s University was fortunate in the amount of damage to the buildings and the monetary losses. The work of the Physical Plant reduced the amount of building damage. As Bill Leggett said, “it could have been a lot worse and more costly had it not been for the superlative work of the involved departments.”
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