On Wednesday, we shared with students, faculty and staff that classes remain canceled on the App State Boone and Hickory campuses and Adverse Weather Condition 3 (Closure) remains in effect through 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11.

With Fall Break Oct. 14-15, classes will resume no earlier than Oct. 16. The modality and locations will be determined based on conditions and infrastructure. Our goal is to resume classes as soon as possible, recognizing that many are facing significant challenges with housing, power and communications connectivity, and also that our students, faculty and staff want and need to return to campus, to continue their teaching and learning and research and creative activities, reconnect with their friends and colleagues, and engage with the resources available to them at the university. As always, Academic Affairs is prepared to work with each and every student to ensure they are able to be successful, especially those on track to graduate in December.

The university's power, water and internet service remains stable, and we are working to support the many students, faculty and staff who have been impacted by the storm, as well as our deeply devastated community.

As we continue to assess the damage to our campus, we are keenly aware that our partners in the county are still working to reach people who need help. Road conditions in the area are improving, but many remain treacherous or impassible. Throughout our entire area, there is widespread lack of power and water, along with significant transportation and communication issues. There’s not a single person in this area that hasn’t felt the impact of this storm. Some of our students, faculty and staff have lost everything. We are so grateful to the emergency responders, volunteers and utility providers, and so many others, for their incredible work.

On our campus, we were fortunate that we had no fatalities, and we have no actively missing students, faculty or staff. All residence halls are structurally sound with minimal issues. Several academic buildings have significant water damage from flooding, including Walker Hall, Rankin Science Building, Varsity Gym and the academic areas of Holmes Convocation Center. Our facilities team, along with the private contractors we’ve brought in, has already made incredible progress addressing this damage, and we will see more results from their efforts next week, as we work toward returning to normal operations. 

At Appalachian State University, we stand with the Town of Boone, Watauga County and the people of Western North Carolina. We’ve been part of this community for 125 years. With town and county resources stretched to the maximum, we've opened our convocation center to the Red Cross for a shelter and our dining hall to anyone who needs a hot meal. Since the storm began, our staff, along with volunteers, have served more than 50,000 meals. The number of those needing our shelter is, thankfully, beginning to decrease, as people are able to find more permanent shelter. We have 1,100 students currently living in residence halls, and we've been putting essential personnel up in area hotels, as many can't get home, or don't have homes to return to. We're ensuring all students, faculty and staff who need them can access not only hot meals, but also showers, Wi-Fi, health services, counseling and the ability to wash and dry their clothes. We've also opened a disaster relief resource hub on campus to connect our students, faculty and staff with information, resources and support.

State and federal officials, including Senator Ted Budd, Governor Roy Cooper, North Carolina Representatives Destin Hall and Ray Pickett, have visited our campus and the community. Many others, including Senator Thom Tillis, have remained in touch. The UNC System Board of Governors and President Hans and his leadership team have remained in touch with us as well, providing assistance as needed. Our sister institutions in the System, our Sun Belt Conference schools, and colleges and universities from across the country have reached out, sharing their support. Our alumni base has been contributing, and asking others to give to our Disaster Relief Fund. Media from across the country have been helping tell our stories. It has been an overwhelming and touching display of support. 

This is a resilient community. We’re all helping one another. For anyone who wants to help support our disaster relief fund, we encourage you to visit appstate.edu.

In the last few days, amidst terrible devastation, we have seen tremendous acts of kindness and humanity. Neighbors helping neighbors, strangers helping strangers. To the many, many people from across the state and nation who are sharing support for the university and our broader community — thank you. It means so much as we manage and respond to this crisis.

Please look for another message from me on Tuesday, Oct. 8. In the meantime, be assured we are working around the clock to support our students, faculty, staff and community.

Heather Norris
Interim Chancellor