Monday morning, February 2, back to work after four days off. I believe that’s the longest time the University has ever been closed in its history. It was closed for a number of reasons, not only because of the ice itself, but the falling limbs, downed power lines, and unsafe conditions as the ice fell. It had been a tough week for everybody. It was good to get back. I forgot to mention that my mom’s power came back on Saturday and Terry and I moved her from her temporary apartment back to her own apartment.
Monday it was important to touch bases with people in the building and making sure everyone was okay. It had been a little bit stressful because many of our law school community were without phone (as well as power) and it was tough to catch up with people to know how they were doing. It was good to see them around the building and know that folks were okay. Believe it or not, I did go to Pilates. It was warm, so that was a nice change. We had a faculty meeting scheduled that day, but ended up canceling it. It just didn’t seem like we had any business so important that we had to go forward with the faculty meeting. It was best to give everyone a chance to get back into their classes, catch up a little bit, and get into the swing of things after the toughness of the week before.
At 1:30 p.m. I attended the Chancellor’s Administrative Policy Council meeting. I think I’ve mentioned the CAPC meeting before. It is an advisory group for the Chancellor. It’s comprised of the broader constituency of the University. As you might imagine, the focus was the ice storm, the things that still needed to done, what some of the ramifications were, and just plain information sharing. One of the things that we learned at the meeting was that the Associated Student Government (ASG) was planning a clean up that Thursday. I had to miss it because I had another trip to Little Rock. The ASG officers had everything well organized and their efforts helped the Facilities Management people get a jump on some of the clean up. Let me say something about that . . . there were a number of amazing members of the University of Arkansas community who came to campus and helped deal with the situation even as their own homes were without power and had damage from the storm and tree limbs. The folks associated with the Physical Plant were here clearing sidewalks, hauling limbs and cutting dangling limbs from trees, even as they faced their own challenges at home. The folks who serve food in the dorms and in the Union came in to work. The folks who run the payroll for the University came in to make sure that the members of the community who didn’t have direct deposit were able to pick up their paychecks. I want to say to those folks, we really appreciate you and the extraordinary service you rendered under very difficult conditions.
Nancecy 