Update Following Last Night’s Storm and Flooding

September 2, 2021

As the university has communicated to all of us, many individuals on our campuses and across New Jersey are experiencing significant difficulties due to the flooding, road closures and power outages caused by Tropical Storm Ida. The effects are being felt at buildings and locations across Rutgers–New Brunswick.

This message serves to follow up on the university-wide messages that have gone out, with specific information for our Rutgers–New Brunswick community. Please note that:

• Academic Instruction & Support:
  • Classes are delayed until 1 p.m. today.
  • Classes scheduled after 1 p.m. today should use online instruction where possible. Faculty members are advised to consider using asynchronous online instruction, out of consideration for students who may have lost power or internet access.
  • Faculty are encouraged to allow student absences today since students are all impacted differently by the storm.
  • Rutgers–New Brunswick libraries will remain closed until at least Friday, September 3, 2021.
  • Advising services are remote today.  The link to your school’s advising services is available at https://newbrunswick.rutgers.edu/status#faqs.
  • The Add/Drop deadline has been extended to Friday, September 10 due to the cancellation of classes this morning.
• Mental Health Services:
  • CAPS will be operating remotely today.
  • Center for Psychological Services is also available through the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. Please call 848-445-6111.
• Dining Services:
  • The four major dining halls in Rutgers–New Brunswick (Busch Dining, Brower Commons, Neilson Dining and Livingston Dining) are currently open and scheduled to remain open until 8pm this evening. 
  • Douglass Student Center, Livingston Student Center, Kilmer’s Market on Livingston, Busch Dining and Neilson Dining are scheduled to be open for takeout until 11 p.m. 
  • Woody’s Café on Busch will be open until 2 p.m. Café West on College Avenue is scheduled to be open until 11 p.m.
• Student Health Centers:
  • Hurtado Student Health Center is scheduled to be open at 1 p.m. today and is scheduled to remain open until 1 p.m. for scheduled appointments. 
  • Busch-Livingston Health Center and Cook-Douglass Health Center will be closed today.
• Student Centers:
  • College Avenue is closed.
  • Livingston will open at 3 p.m.
  • Busch will have normal operating hours.
  • Cook will open at noon.
  • Douglass will have normal operating hours.
  • Student Activities Center will be closed.

• Rutgers–New Brunswick buses are operating at 50% service today. 
• All recreation centers are closed today.
• Dean of Students Office: Please check the Dean of Students website for operating hours.
• The Rutgers Student Food Pantry is closed until further notice, but updates can be found on the food pantry website.
• Our experiment station sites and county offices are reporting minimal disruptions in their operations.

For additional and up-to-date information on the status of certain student services, please visit: https://studentaffairs.rutgers.edu/status.

The One Stop Student Services Center remains available, and students may submit questions through the portal: https://rutgers.force.com/OneStopPortal/s/.

For up-to-date information on the status of the university please visit https://www.rutgers.edu/status.

We ask that students, faculty and staff use good judgement and refrain from unnecessary travel or use of university buildings while we are in a recovery mode.

As has been the case far too often recently, our entire community – students, faculty, and staff – will get through this difficult time together, guided by compassion and flexibility.

As always, I ask that you continue to share your concerns and questions with your respective university leaders and support systems or directly with me via this online form. I will do my best to ensure a timely and effective response.

A special thank you to our staff who worked to support our students and ensure their safety last evening and into this morning. Your dedication to our community is vital to our continued operation and success.

Please stay safe.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor, Rutgers University–New Brunswick