Emergency Campus Closing

Boston University seeks to prioritize the safety of all members of its community at all times. There will be occasions where the University’s operations must be suspended, or the University must close and cancel classes, due to weather or other emergency-related conditions.  When these situations arise, the University’s operations will shift to on-campus essential operations.

Please refer to the full policy at Employee Handbook – Section 311 Emergency Campus Closing | Policies (bu.edu).

Emergency closing information related to represented employees may be found in the respective labor agreements, which can be found here.

The decisions as to whether to close the Charles River, Fenway, or Medical campus(es) will be made independently by the University’s Senior Leadership and will be communicated to the University community as follows:

  • University Home Page
  • University Emergency Notification System
  • The Emergency Line (617-353-7669)
  • BU Today
  • Social Media
  • BU Email
  • Local television and radio stations

 In the event of unforeseeable business interruption where notice is not possible, the University will close impacted operations, and staff who perform On-Campus Essential Services will be expected to report to campus and paid under the guidelines of this policy.  All Other Staff are not required to report to campus or work remotely and will be paid for their regularly scheduled hours when their campus is closed for emergency reasons.

 During the day, the decision to shorten work schedules due to adverse weather conditions will normally be made by 3 p.m. On such occasions, faculty, staff, and students will be notified by the BU Alert notification system. In addition, this information will be posted on the University homepage and BU Today.

Employees in essential services must report as scheduled. Please refer to the policy at Employee Handbook – Section 311 Emergency Campus Closing | Policies (bu.edu)) for those roles that are On Campus Essential Services.

This notice supersedes all others dated prior to December 2021.