UCD has announced the closure of the Belfield and Blackrock campuses as well as the postponement of the scheduled graduation ceremonies scheduled for tomorrow, the 7th of December.
A UCD statement said ‘The Department of Further and Higher Education has advised that all universities, colleges and further education facilities covered by the Red Alert and Orange warning from Met Éireann should not open tomorrow. Consequently, the University will close its campuses at Belfield and Blackrock. Unfortunately, this means that conferrings due to take place tomorrow are postponed.’
The announcement was made after a statement from the Department of Further and Higher Education which advised all third-level institutions to close based on advice from Met Éireann due to storm Barra.
The department statement said: ‘Due to the significant nature of Storm Barra, as forecast by Met Éireann and to give sufficient notice to institutions of further and higher education, the department is advising that all universities, colleges and further education facilities covered by the Red Alert and Orange warning from Met Éireann should not open tomorrow, 7 December.’
It added that: ‘All third level institutions should keep up-to-date with the current weather warnings which are carried on all national and local news bulletins and in particular any change in the status warning for their area.’
The campus closures will mean heavy disruption to students currently preparing for the end of semester exams. The UCD Students Union have confirmed that all their offices and shops will remain closed tomorrow due to the disruption.
The news will also come as a bitter blow to those scheduled to take part in the conferring ceremonies that were meant to take place tomorrow in O’Reilly Hall tomorrow. In the statement announcing the restrictions, UCD said: ‘The University apologises for the disappointment and inconvenience to graduands. We will reschedule these conferrings as soon as possible.’
Conor Paterson – Co-Editor
as regards tomorrows graduations ceremonies could the university not have contacted the students with this update … my son is to attend tomorrow and has not received any update … very poor performance ucd