Snow day

Snow days rarely occur at Columbia. The university has a long and proud tradition of sending its students out into blizzards to crisscross the campus in the name of higher education.

2003

There are a few notable exceptions. In 2003, Columbia begrudgingly shut down when the rest of New York began to believe that they might be experiencing the apocalypse. This was, of course, not true.

February 2010

In 2010, Columbia canceled classes on February 10th, beginning at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Professors whose classes started at 2:10 or 2:40 alerted the students that their classes would still be held. They were not serious.

Columbia students took advantage of the extra study time to make giant snowballs, models of the Sydney Opera House, igloos, and giant snow men. The most prominent snow creations were created by Timm Baur (CC '10), David Lee (GS '11), Brigid Babbish (CC '12), and Blair McClendon (CC '13). Baur and Lee created a full sized igloo in the field in front of Butler, which drew oohs and ahhs from pretty much everyone. While no one knows what their inspiration was, it most likely involved a desire to outdo the diminutive igloo that was erected near Furnald earlier in the day. Babbish and McClendon initiated the giant snow ball formation and drew together a small army of students to push the ball around campus. Public Safety promptly broke up any fun they might be having and stashed the snowball near Lerner. Later that night, two giant snowballs blocked off the path to Butler, but no group has taken credit for these actions.