DeKALB | Senior philosophy major Reid Bruce would have arrived to an empty room Tuesday night hadn’t he received a voicemail earlier in the day telling him his night class was canceled.

Bruce got word from one of his friends that all NIU classes after 6 p.m. would be canceled due to the blizzard-like conditions that hit most of the Midwest Tuesday.

University officials discussed closing the DeKalb campus early Tuesday but decided to keep classes open. Elsewhere, Illinois State University, University of Illinois-Champaign, Eastern Illinois University and Western Illinois University canceled all classes for the day.

“Early in the morning, the weather system had not yet developed,” said Steve Cunningham, associate vice president of Human Resources.

Administrators take into account snow removal, road reports, the operation of the Huskie Bus line and other factors, Cunningham said.

Officials decided at 3 p.m. Tuesday to cancel all classes in session after 6 p.m. Officials thought canceling mid-afternoon classes could cause confusion, so the announcement was made for night classes only, Cunningham said.

University of Illinois-Chicago and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville acted similarly, canceling all classes after 5 p.m.

For Bruce, the cancelation of classes didn’t mean the cancelation of his evening.

“I’m going to go do some laundry and get some groceries,” he said.

NIU closed due to heavy snow Dec. 1, 2006, and university officials considered canceling class last week due to below-freezing temperatures, Cunningham said.

The National Weather Service predicted that snowfall would continue until early today.