So the University of Massachusetts Boston is and, despite the administration’s herculean endeavors in saying otherwise, always will be a “commuter school.”
According to the UMass Boston website, under the Administration and Finance’s policy and procedure page, the university has in place a four-step procedure they are obligated to follow in the event of inclement weather.
Step 1: Public Safety (the university police) notifies the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities of general road and weather conditions, including regional information.
Step 2: the AVC for Facilities is to contact the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance and report campus conditions from Public Safety and Facilities crews on scene.
Step 3: the Emergency Manager and the Director of Marine Operations gives reports from MEMA and the National Weather Service to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities.
Step 4: The Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance contacts the Chief of Staff, Provost, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and together they evaluate whether or not to close the campus—a decision that is made by 5:00 a.m.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I live in Medford, which is about an hour away from the campus via train (MBTA Redline). Not all, but definitely more than some, students as well as faculty and staff have commutes as long as three or four hours, depending on where they live.
The UMass Boston administration knows full well that it is a commuter school; our very own Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs has said as much in open letters to the student body regarding transportation during my time here since Spring 2016. And yet, they expect us—students, faculty, and staff alike—to make it to the campus during a snowstorm once the Powers That Be inform all, at 5:00 a.m., that the campus is open for academic and business activities. 

But if your response to this is “Tough luck, that is not how the world works,” then I will excuse myself from this conversation because I should not have to tell you that the world is changing—it is time for institutions to change with it.