• Only essential employees, designated in advance, should report to work.
• Dining services will be available.
• Classes will be held unless canceled by the instructor.  Students should check their email and Lyceum to determine if individual classes have been canceled by the instructor.
• Updates will be posted here as needed.
• A parking ban in Lewiston is in effect through 6 a.m. Wednesday, March 20.
• Follow the current weather conditions in Lewiston during the storm via Weather Underground.
• Check the current forecast from the National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine.

General storm safety information

1. Fire safety: If electricity fails due to high winds, after several hours the system that transmits information to the Central Fire Station may not fully function, but local alarms and detectors will continue to function. As a result, students should leave the building as usual and then call 911 if a fire alarm goes off, followed by calling at 786-6111. As always, candles should never be lit in a campus building.
2. Personal safety: During times of high winds, stay clear of tall trees, and stay away from any downed wires. Do not drive unless absolutely necessary. Be mindful of snowplows on area streets.
3. Campus safety: The electronic card access system has a backup battery system and should continue to function even if the power goes out.
4. Charging up: You should charge fully your electronic devices today.  Similarly, if the electricity goes out for an extended period of time, the hot water will not be available in many dorms and houses, so use it while you can.
5. Electricity supply: Buildings with back-up generator power include New Commons, the Village complex, 280 College St., Pettengill and Security. However, even these buildings will have a limited electricity supply. Elsewhere, the electricity outages, if they occur, will likely vary in different locations on and off-campus.

• The Feb. 8 Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert has been postponed. L/A Arts, the concert presenter, hopes to reschedule the event for late June-early July. All current ticket holders should retain their tickets until that date; all purchased tickets and ticket winners, will be honored for this date. For more information, please contact 207-782-7228 or mail@laarts.org.

• The F.A.B. Winter Dance Showcase, a collaboration between Bates and the Franco-American Heritage Center, has been rescheduled for March 2. For more information, call 207-689-2000.

• The third annual Bates College Folk Music Festival, planned for Feb. 8 and 9, has been postponed. The Freewill Folk Society hopes to reschedule it for May.

• The Feb. 9 performance by the Gerald Clayton Trio has been postponed, with the new date to be announced.

Please watch bates.edu/news and bates.edu/events for further information about these events.

Leaving a foot of new snow atop the foot Lewiston already had on the ground, this week’s snowfall fell somewhat short of the apocalypse predicted by the media. But it did keep many people at home and prompted Bates to close administrative offices.

Classes were held as usual, though. And alongside the students heading through the flakes were the workers performing the renovation of Hedge and Roger Williams halls.

With the exception of jobs like roofing, the renovation rolls on regardless of weather, explains project manager Paul Farnsworth. General contractor Wright-Ryan Construction of Portland is responsible for clearing the site, keeping a Bobcat around (the four-wheeled variety) to move snow and paying another firm to haul it away.

“There’s only so much space to stack it there,” says Farnsworth. Or anywhere.

Snow aside (which is where it belongs if you can find any place to pile it), most of the construction-site action is happening indoors. Inside Roger Williams, the installation of wall studs has been completed around the building’s shell on all but the fourth story. As was also the case in Hedge, a ceiling supporting a layer of insulation up there needs to be hung before the walls can be built.

Partition-wall frames are popping up all over. “The ground-floor studding is done, they have the door frames in and soon they’ll be drywalling,” says Farnsworth. A lot of first-floor walls have been framed in, and the second is being started.

On the outside, sharp-eyed observers will notice that myriad openings in the Bill’s roof, which comprises quite a baffling array of planes, angles, dormers and faux chimneys, have been closed up.

Completing the building’s weather-tightening, virtually all the windows have been installed, notably the two-story number over the main entrance facing Hedge.

“It came in pieces,” Farnsworth says. “They’ve still got some trim metal to strap on between the joints to make it look pretty.”

He adds, “You can’t see through it — they’ve got plywood on the inside. The stairway is going up behind it, and they didn’t want any chance of damage from welding and rigging the steel for the stair stringers.”

Inside Hedge, says Farnsworth, drywall troops are “going to town”: ground floor done, second story nearly done, first and third well under way. Inspectors have OK’d in-wall electrical and plumbing installations throughout, and painters have finished priming the ground floor walls.

A tantalizing bit of progress at Hedge, viewable from Alumni Walk, is the top of the new stair tower, part of an addition that’s increasing the building’s size by nearly 5,200 square feet.

The peak, along with part of the entrance, was exposed when plastic sheeting that has been holding in heat for masonry work was partially removed early this week.

The rest of the addition should be unveiled within days. And none too soon, says Farnsworth, as the masons are needed over at the Bill, where there’s another big addition awaiting its veneer of brick and granite.

With the masons clear of the Hedge roofline, roofers will be able to lay slate on the Alumni Walk side — if it ever stops snowing. (As this is written, snow is predicted for every other day until June 15.)

And the last of the window units will be installed within days. Now if someone would just get busy with a razor blade and scrape all the manufacturer’s labels off the glass — the better to see the snow through.

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Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions, reminiscences and comments about campus improvements. Please e-mail Doug Hubley, stating “Construction Update” in the subject line.

From Paul: Hey all. Us Batesies get pretty excited about winter weather… well… at least I do anyway. So I decided to update the blog page and make it a bit more festive, as least while it is still the holiday season. Check the sidebar on the left for the ‘Pages’ you normally see along the top banner.

Keeping with the holiday spirit, I took a break from studying for midterms today to build a gingerbread house with a friend. Below are some pictures. I found it a nice and relaxing way to pull myself away from the books. For now I am admiring the masterpiece (okay maybe it doesn’t look exactly like the picture on the box) but I can’t hold off eating it forever. More snow in the forecast this week… I am getting more excited everyday. While I get back to focusing on finals (I have 2 exams and 3 papers due this coming week) enjoy these pictures of the gingerbread house. Until next time… [More...]

From Paul: Hey all. We got our first significant snowfall here at Bates on Sunday. It had snowed a few times earlier in the season but we never got any accumulation… until now. Snow makes me think of skiing, skating, and good winter times. As always, Bates looks great with a fresh coat of snow. Check out these pictures I snapped from my window while it was still snowing. Check out the Winter Pictures Page for more winter photos. Until next time… [More...]