UCF, Valencia and Rollins College issue Hurricane Dorian alerts, closing campuses

University of Central Florida announced all campuses will close starting at 5 p.m. Friday through at least Tuesday, Sept. 3. in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian.

Rollins College and Valencia College are closing classes as well. At Rollins,  classes will close Friday and the campus will close from 4 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, during which the campus has ordered a mandatory evacuation.

Over at Valencia, classes will close from Friday through Tuesday, including online courses.

Not even a week into the Fall semester, UCF is asking students and faculty to prepare for the storm’s impact. All campuses and locations, including UCF Downtown, the Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona, the Rosen College and all UCF Connect regional campuses will be closed and “will only reopen when it is safe to do so,” according to UCF’s press release sent out earlier today.

In consideration of losing power, all academic assignments and classes with online components are suspended until the university reopens.

Students living on campus are encouraged to evacuate to a safe off-campus location beginning no later than noon Sunday, Sept. 1. For students choosing to remain on campus, ride out plans will be as follows:

Students living at the Towers, NorthView, UnionWest (Downtown) and Rosen College will be allowed to remain in their rooms.

Students who live in the following locations will be required to move to a ride-out location at the Education Complex that will open Sunday afternoon:
• On-campus Greek Housing
• Libra, Apollo, and Lake Claire
• Nike, Hercules and Neptune

Shuttles will be available to take students to the ride-out location on Sunday. Students who live in off-campus housing – including UCF-affiliated housing — and UCF employees will not have access to campus ride-out locations.

UCF will continue to monitor the storm. As a reminder, the university does not serve as a public shelter during hurricanes. No families, friends or non-service or emotional support animals will be allowed to ride out the storm in UCF residence halls or ride-out locations.

Because of possible impacts from Hurricane Dorian, UCF cannot guarantee comforts such as power, water, food and medical assistance on campus.

Students living on campus may leave their vehicle parked on campus as their permit allows.

Students will be permitted to leave their ride-out location or residence hall once campus is deemed safe. Those who evacuated campus also will be allowed to return to their residence hall once the campus all-clear has been given.

Some essential and critical employees will be required to work after the university closes operations. Employees should speak with their supervisor concerning essential operations. Supervisors are encouraged to ensure employees who may need to work during the storm have adequate time to prepare their homes and help loved ones prepare for the storm.

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This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2019.