First Lady's visit to UNH canceled

Michelle Obama's planned visit to the University of New Hampshire on Tuesday is canceled, the Obama campaign announced on Friday, after the university curtailed operations on Monday, Oct. 29 and Tuesday, Oct. 30. The event will not be rescheduled. 

The First Lady was set to speak in the Field House on Tuesday afternoon, but UNH made the decision to curtail operations in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy, which will likely hit the New England area early next week. The university cited the likelihood of widespread power outages in the Durham area on Monday and Tuesday as the main reason for closing the university in a press release. The release also stated that UNH's co-generation plant was scheduled to be offline next week for routine maintenance. The co-generation plant is one of UNH's two main power sources, the other being power purchased from PSNH. 

"We used all of the information available to make the best decision for the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors,” said UNH President Mark Huddleston. “Losing days in the classroom is not something we ever like to do, but I encourage faculty to reach out to their students before the storm with any reading or assignments that can be done even if power is lost.”

The First Lady's visit to UNH was announced Thursday evening, but the forecast for New England early next week became increasingly worse on Friday. According to Meteorologist David Epstein from Boston.com, Sandy could be a "historic" storm that may hit southern New England the hardest. Epstein said that if the storm's landfall occurred in Connecticut or Rhode Island, the New England coastline could see major damage and would cause even more damage than Hurricane Irene last year.