As winter approaches, all faculty, staff and students are asked to familiarize themselves with the university's policy for weather-related closures. 

When a weather-related closure takes place, all faculty, staff and students will be notified through emergency-notification alerts sent out by IU Northwest. Alerts will come in the form of an email, phone call and/or text message.

To ensure you receive emergency-notification alerts, please:

• Log into OneStart
• Click on the ‘Emergency Notification’ link located in the menu on the left side of the page
• Update your contact information
• Click ‘save’

Please note, anyone who does not have contact information on file through OneStart will not receive emergency-notification alerts, such as a weather-related closure.

Additionally, students are encouraged to sign up for the class cancellation text service that will automatically provide text and email notification when professors cancel classes.

To sign up for class cancellation texts:

• Click here
• Update your contact information
• Click ‘submit’

Weather closure or cancellation information will also be posted on the IU Northwest home page and to the IU Northwest Facebook and IU Northwest Twitter pages.

A list of media sources that will report information about IU Northwest weather-related cancellations and/or closings will also be available here.

When adverse weather conditions occur between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., a decision regarding the day's status should be conveyed to the campus and to local media by 6 a.m.

If evening classes need to be canceled due to daytime weather conditions, that information should be conveyed to the campus and to the local media by 3 p.m.

In accordance with the IU Northwest Severe Weather Emergency Policy, it is possible for the Chancellor or his designee to cancel classes for all or part of a school day without closing the campus. Under this policy, class cancellations and campus closures are two separate actions.

If classes are canceled but campus remains open, then campus employees remain in work status. All faculty and staff are advised to listen carefully to status announcements to be certain of their work status.

All IU Northwest facilities will adhere to the cancellation and/or closing decision made for the campus, including Arts on Grant and any IU Northwest classes at the Portage University Center. IU Northwest classes held at the Academic Learning Center in Merrillville, however, are subject to the decision of Purdue University Calumet.

Decisions about weather-related closings and cancellations will be made based on campus conditions, road and highway conditions, weather forecasts provided by the National Weather Service, and other factors.

Additional details regarding weather-related closures can be found here.