As November ended, students at the UW emerged battered by record-breaking rain, high winds and snowstorms.

Throughout these adverse conditions, however, the UW remained open, and the only classes cancelled were evening classes during the height of the last snowstorm on Wednesday.

Junior Ibrahim Bulhan lives in Renton and commutes to campus daily during the week to attend classes.

"I hated commuting in November," he said. "My car went into a ditch once because of icy road conditions."

Historically, the UW has operated within two guidelines to deal with dangerous weather conditions or extraordinary situations that would allow the temporary closure of the UW.

The first is the "suspended operations" policy. As the guidelines state: "In the event of an emergency situation adversely affecting University operations ... the president or designee may declare a temporary suspension...of the institution."

Even if the suspended operations policy is in effect, there are parts of the UW that never shut down, said UW spokesman Norm Arkans.

"The UW never fully closes," he said. "We have hospitals, dormitories and students to take care of."

A subset under the suspended operations policy, the secondary "inclement weather" policy, is used to determine the status of campus based on fluctuating weather patterns. When inclement weather is declared, it is the UW grounds crew who ensure accessibility of campus for faculty and students.

Keeping campus accessible is under the jurisdiction of Charles Kennedy, associate vice president of facilities services. There is a level of importance involved in cleaning the campus, he said.

"We have a snow removal policy of clearing the main roads first and then the pathways," he said. "Then we move snow from Red Square by cleaning in an 'x' shape, and finally the perimeter of Red Square."

In the past decade the UW campus has only closed three times — once because of suspended operations and twice due to inclement weather.

Deciding to close campus is never an easy choice, Arkans said.

"It's not a perfect science," he said. "We have to make a complicated judgment call based on safety."

Contributing writer Nathan Lee: news@thedaily.washington.edu