With the first blast of winter chill, faculty, staff and students are encouraged to subscribe to UNL Alert to receive information for weather-related closings and campus emergencies. The alert system allows subscribers to receive up-to-the-minute details sent t a variety of devices.

Announcements of weather-related closures of UNL are available through various media — including UNL Alert and local television and radio stations.

Weather-related closures will be immediately posted on the UNL Web page, http://www.unl.edu. Also, radio and television stations should be notified by 6 a.m. for day classes and 2 p.m. for night classes.

The announcements will also be made through UNL Alert, a service that sends emergency messages via text message or email. For more information about UNL Alert, including how to sign up, go to http://emergency.unl.edu/unlalert.

Selected positions — such as police and snow-removal personnel — have been identified as essential during weather closings. Those employees are made aware of the designation when hired. Employees should assume they are not needed during weather emergencies unless they have been told otherwise.

When UNL is closed due to inclement weather, all regular office/service and managerial/professional personnel scheduled to work will be considered on paid administrative leave. Essential employees who work during a weather shutdown will receive time off (hour for hour) at a later date. At departmental discretion, regular hourly paid employees may receive additional pay (hour for hour) in lieu of time off. UNL’s policy on inclement weather pay/leave and payroll procedures is available at http://go.unl.edu/tsh.

If UNL closes during the day to allow students and employees to get home safely, campus will be notified through deans, directors and department chairs.

The university operator will also provide closure information to anyone who calls UNL’s main switchboard, 402-472-7211.

Site-specific closings off campus will be made by the responsible administrator and communicated locally.

In the event of a closure, individuals who have tickets to athletic events or performances on campus should call ahead to see if those events will be held.

Decisions to close the campus for inclement weather are based on a number of safety factors including current and near future weather predictions, road conditions within the City of Lincoln and the local area, access to Lincoln via highways and roads, the condition of UNL’s parking lots and sidewalks, campus snow-removal staffing plans, and guidance from local and emergency management agencies.