Campus Alert Archive
FAU

Dorms Stay, Dining Stays, Everyone Else Out: FAU's Layered Hurricane Irma Closure

FLhurricaneemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On Wednesday, September 6, 2017, Florida Atlantic University announced its Boca Raton, Davie, Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale, and Harbor Branch campuses would all close Thursday, September 7 through Sunday, September 10 as Hurricane Irma approached South Florida. All university events were canceled through Monday, September 11. The closure was layered: campuses were closed to non-essential personnel and non-residents, but campus dorms and the dining hall remained open to residents.

Alerts
3
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
Florida Atlantic University
Public R1 · FL
~30,000 studentsFAU Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from FAU President John Kelly blog entry dated September 6, 2017 announcing Hurricane Irma closure549 chars
FAU Alert: Due to Hurricane Irma, Florida Atlantic University will close all campuses — Boca Raton, Davie, Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale, and Harbor Branch — beginning Thursday, September 7 through Sunday, September 10. All classes are canceled. All university events are canceled. Only essential personnel are required to report. Residence halls remain open and the dining hall will continue to operate for residents. Off-campus students should follow local evacuation orders. Owl-cycle services are suspended. Continue to monitor FAU Alert for updates.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

President John Kelly issued the closure announcement through his official FAU blog at fau.edu/president/blog — an unusual delivery channel for a Clery emergency notification but FAU's standard for hurricane-related communications in 2017
Five campuses listed — Boca Raton (main), Davie, Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale, and Harbor Branch — illustrating FAU's spread across South Florida from Broward to Palm Beach to Indian River counties
The 'residence halls remain open, dining continues for residents' framing established the layered closure model FAU has used for every subsequent hurricane
UPDATESMS+3d
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from University Press Online (FAU student newspaper) coverage of the September 9, 2017 shelter-in-place expansion282 chars
FAU Alert: Hurricane Irma forecast to impact FAU campuses overnight Sunday into Monday. Residential students must remain in residence halls. All campuses remain closed through Sunday September 10. Events canceled through Monday September 11. Stay tuned to fauinfo.com and FAU Alert.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Shelter-in-place announcement issued late Saturday September 9, before Irma's first Florida landfall at Cudjoe Key (9:10 AM EDT Sunday) — about 13 hours of advance notice for FAU residents
fauinfo.com is FAU's emergency information hub — separate from FAU Alert SMS but kept synchronized during major events
The Monday September 11 event-cancellation extension is one day longer than the initial campus closure, allowing recovery time before classes resumed Tuesday September 12
ALL CLEAREmail+5d
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from FAU communications archive — Tuesday September 12 reopening announcement issued Monday evening September 11368 chars
FAU Alert: Florida Atlantic University will resume normal operations on Tuesday, September 12. All five FAU campuses will reopen. Classes will resume Tuesday on the regular schedule. Damage assessment found minimal impact on FAU facilities. Owl-cycle services resume Tuesday morning. Faculty and staff are asked to be flexible with students affected by Hurricane Irma.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Tuesday September 12 reopening — five calendar days after Thursday September 7 closure — was a shorter shutdown than the public-R1 peers UF (closed through September 13) and FSU (closed through September 15)
Minimal-damage finding reflects that Irma had weakened to Category 2 by the time it cleared Florida and that FAU campuses sit inland from the worst storm surge zones
The Owl-cycle bike-share service has appeared in FAU emergency communications as a standard transit indicator since 2015
Context

Background

Florida Atlantic University operates six campuses across Boca Raton, Davie, Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale, and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce. FAU's emergency notification system, FAU Alert, delivers SMS, email, and voice messages to enrolled students and registered employees. Hurricane Irma was a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that made first U.S. landfall in the Florida Keys as Category 4 at 9:10 AM EDT on September 10, 2017 and a second landfall at Marco Island as Category 3 at 3:35 PM EDT the same day. As Irma tracked north along Florida's west coast, FAU's South Florida campuses — all on the Atlantic coast — were on the storm's eastern flank and experienced tropical-storm-force winds but escaped direct hurricane-force impact. FAU President John Kelly announced the closure through his official fau.edu blog on Wednesday September 6 — Thursday September 7 through Sunday September 10 — with event cancellations extending through Monday September 11. The closure was layered: campuses were closed to non-essential personnel and non-residents, but residence halls and the dining hall remained open for residential students who chose not to evacuate. The University Press student newspaper provided contemporaneous coverage of the September 9 shelter-in-place expansion and subsequent reopening on Tuesday, September 12. Damage to FAU facilities was characterized as minimal. The Irma response established the FAU Alert template used for Hurricane Ian in 2022, Hurricane Helene in 2024 (when FAU closed pre-emptively), and Hurricane Milton in 2024 — most notably the practice of layered closure (campus closed, residence halls open, dining continues) and the President's blog as a primary communications channel.
Analysis

Key Findings

FAU closed all five South Florida campuses (Boca Raton, Davie, Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale, Harbor Branch) Thursday September 7 through Sunday September 10, 2017
All university events were canceled through Monday September 11; classes resumed Tuesday September 12
FAU's layered-closure model — campuses closed to non-residents, but residence halls and dining hall open for residents — became the template for subsequent FAU hurricane responses
President John Kelly issued the closure announcement through his official fau.edu blog — an unusual delivery channel but FAU's standard for hurricane-related communications in 2017
Damage to FAU campuses was minimal; Irma had weakened to Category 2 by the time it cleared Florida and the South Florida coast was on Irma's eastern flank
FAU's five-calendar-day closure was shorter than peer SUS institutions UF (six days) and FSU (eight days)
The Irma response established the FAU Alert template used for Ian (2022), Helene (2024), and Milton (2024)
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Hurricane Irma Update | Florida Atlantic University (President's Blog)
    fau.edu
  2. Student Paper
    FAU cancels classes ahead of Hurricane Irma (University Press)
    upressonline.com
  3. government
    Hurricane Irma Local Report/Summary (NWS Miami)
    weather.gov
  4. encyclopedia
    Hurricane Irma (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  5. government
    NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT HURRICANE IRMA (AL112017)
    nhc.noaa.gov
Tags
hurricanehurricane-irmacampus-closurefloridasouth-floridafau-alert2017-hurricane-seasonpublic-r1boca-ratonlayered-closurepresidents-blog
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion