Emergency Information

While Eastern rarely cancels classes, it does not compromise safety when making a decision about school closures because of inclement weather or potential emergency situations. Prior to making a decision on operations, EWU consults with EWU Police and university facilities staff regarding campus safety as well as sidewalk and parking lot conditions. Eastern also relies on information from the Washington State Patrol, the Weather Service, and the City of Cheney when making a decision.

The university tries to make a decision by 6 a.m. on a school day. This means conditions are evaluated throughout the night and early morning hours.

Since a weather or emergency cancellation requires quick response and immediate communication, Eastern utilizes the Rave Mobile Safety system to send real time EagleSafe alerts to the campus community via their mobile phones, email, web and social media.

You can also check the EWU Snow Line at 509.359.SNOW for recorded messages, or visit the university’s website at www.ewu.edu. Regional news media are always informed by an official university spokesperson about emergency situations. Please check your local TV or radio station as well.

Eastern encourages students to communicate with their professor if they can’t get to campus. Faculty and staff are also encouraged to communicate with their supervisors if they also can’t make it to campus.

When operations are suspended for “typical” weather-related events, the following campus services are impacted:

• Dining Services will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Pence Union Market inside the PUB (a power outage could force a reassessment of this schedule based on campus needs).
• The University Recreation Center (URC) will be open with limited services based on staffing ability.
• JFK Library will be closed.

Essential personnel are identified as staff who are tasked with specific cleanup or maintenances duties related to a particular weather event or emergency. Certain dining services and facility employees are also required to work (consult with supervisor). For more information, see the EWU policy on Suspended Operations. (When operations are suspended this means the library is also closed, but dining service locations will be open based on available personnel).

When Suspended Operations are in place and classes are canceled on the Cheney campus, all Spokane operations are suspended as well. EWU programs located in other parts of the state, such as Bellevue or Everett, are subject to their own local campus emergency declarations.

Faculty: Please communicate with students how classes will be handled during suspended operations. During suspended operations status, classes cannot be held in-person but may still be held online. 

Students: Stay connected with your instructors through Canvas for information regarding your classes.

School districts make their decisions based on the many miles of residential and rural routes that school buses navigate each day. In addition to monitoring the main roads, Eastern must consider the student population that lives on or very close to campus when deciding to cancel classes.

Here are some of the important things to think about during the winter months:

• The City of Cheney kindly asks people to move their cars from residential streets so crews can plow overnight. EWU offers free parking in lot P-12 for this purpose (and year around). More
• Your EagleCard allows you to ride for free on any Spokane Transit bus, which serves the Cheney and Spokane campuses daily. There is a free park-and-ride in the Jefferson Lot in downtown Spokane under I-90.