Trinity University responded to a collection of winter challenges amidst a shortened school week starting Jan. 15, which included pulling out of the time-honored Martin Luther King Jr. March and working to restore heat to residents of Harold D. Herndon Hall.
As San Antonio experienced a hard freeze, 72 consecutive hours of below 32-degree temperatures, Trinity still had dozens of students registered for the MLK March. Leading up to the event, the Office of Student Inclusion, Belonging and Engagement (SIBE) was closely monitoring the situation. The Friday before the march, SIBE announced that the school still planned on attending the event and provided students with information on how to fight the cold.
Late into the weekend, the administration announced that the University would be pulling out of the annual march, a decision that would later also be made by the MLK Commission itself. Due to freezing rain and further icy weather conditions, the MLK Commission released a public statement to announce the cancellation.
While the Trinity administration was able to avoid this obstacle, the goal of keeping all students on campus warm was hindered after a circuit board failed during the freeze.
Facilities rely on a hot water system that dedicates water to different parts of campus depending on where students are, and when the circuit board failed, the heating was stifled in Herndon Hall. The Facilities staff was not aware of the issue until receiving numerous work orders related to the state of the hall.
Jim Baker, senior director of Facilities Services, cited the difficulty of Texas infrastructure when it comes to dealing with the cold, particularly in large stints. Likening the situation to turning a car on in cold weather, Baker touched on the challenge of keeping campus warm for extended periods of time.
“If you went to 18 degrees overnight, no problem,” Baker said. “But you drop to 18 degrees with a high of 22 [degrees] for 36 hours, I can’t continue to keep the temperature that you’re used to in your room. … It’s the extended time period and the extreme colds that we’re not set up for. Nobody is.”
Lorenzo Sanchez, director of emergency management, has remained in continuous contact with many branches of administration. As he receives information from weather networks all around the country, weather challenges up to ten days ahead can be planned for and ensure that various wings of campus are best prepared.
“We’re mostly geared, as all Texas, towards addressing hot weather. … It’s those really, really deep cold snaps that seem to be more prevalent is what I’ve been noticing,” Sanchez said. “Safety and preparedness is always top of mind.”
Despite the cold and the complications it may bring, there were some upsides. Numerous students were able to witness the famous Miller Fountain freeze over. With the rare occurrence, Trinity’s admissions were able to take photos of the event for social media promotion while students were able to interact with the ice for their own personal enjoyment. Sebastian Rozo, first-year biochemistry and molecular biology double-major, jumped at the opportunity to play around with the ice, having lived in Texas his whole life.
“I have never walked on frozen water before. I’ve seen ice before but I’ve never been able to do that and it was strange to see it in Texas too. Being on it was weird and fun until I heard a crack and I got scared and jumped off,” Rozo said.
Despite the complication with Herndon’s electric board and minor shortages of warm water for students, the Facilities team has continued to work through any weather-related challenges. Thanks to the automated system and consistently contacting the University’s emergency preparedness administration, Trinity has managed to address immediate concerns. Still, the complications that occurred continue to highlight areas for potential improvements in anticipation of similar weather events in the future.
