The New England snowstorm covers campus paths in snow.
Head of School Raynard Kington announced the 36th Head of School Day in Paresky Commons.
Head of School Raynard Kington announced on Friday evening in Paresky Commons that the Thirty-Sixth Head of School Day (HOSD) will take place on Monday, January 26. The announcement was followed later that night by a campus-wide email from Susan Esty, Dean of Students and Residential Life, confirming that all classes, athletics, and interscholastic practices will be cancelled on Monday. Esty also outlined changes to dorm sign-in times along with restrictions on day excuses, car permissions, and food deliveries in anticipation of a forecasted snowstorm starting Sunday and continuing into Monday.
In a follow-up email sent on Saturday evening, Esty detailed the changes to campus facilities’ operating hours over the extended weekend. Paresky Commons will remain open on Sunday and Monday with weekend meal times, while Falls Music Center, George Washington Hall, Elson Art Center, and athletic facilities will have limited hours. The Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Addison Gallery of American Art, and multiple academic buildings will be closed through Monday.
Despite the forecasted weather conditions, Kington suggested that students use HOSD to relax and reconnect with activities they enjoy.
“Relax, hang out with friends, read something for fun, binge on your favorite show, listen to music you love,” wrote Kington in an email to The Phillipian.
Nicholas Zufelt, Instructor in Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, felt that the timing of this year’s HOSD came as a surprise. Following the announcement, faculty members were notified that Monday’s Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Department Day would be rescheduled.
“They did give us a date in February… There’s not a lot of faculty chatter between faculty members over the weekend. Most of that conversation happens during the week. So as of right now, we’re just told, ‘Oh, we’ll move it to this day, we’ll know more soon,’” said Zufelt.
Kayla Lyons ’28, who used last year’s HOSD to spend time with friends off campus, expressed her disappointment and frustration with its timing and restrictiveness this year.
“This [HOSD] is counterintuitive to the entire idea surrounding HOSD. HOSD is supposed to be a free day where people are able to get away from school, classes, [and] the stress of doing homework. But if we’re not even allowed to have day excuses and car permissions, then we’re just stuck here doing our work. We can’t even access the library, so we’re just going to be in our rooms doing our work,” said Lyons.
She continued, “Knowing how rare HOSD’s are, [as] we usually only get one per year, it felt like this was not a special HOSD… I would much rather have a snow day and a HOSD on a ‘real’ HOSD, a real day where students needed to be relieved from their stress.”
