Following the Siberian chill that blasted into State College and nearly paralyzed Pennsylvania yesterday, the University decided at about 11 last night to delay opening for two hours, canceling first and second period classes today.

First period begins at 8 a.m. and second period starts at 9:05 a.m., according to the schedule of class periods.

"We're looking to get everything up and rolling at 10:00," said Christy Rambeau, assistant news bureau manager. Concerns about the cold and the need to conserve power led the University to its decision.

All other classes will continue as scheduled, Rambeau said. Employees in essential services, such as the Office of Housing and Food Service Operations, the Office of Physical Plant, the Nittany Lion Inn, University Health Services, University Police Services and animal caretaking must come to work at their regular schedules.

A combination of frigid weather and a demand for electricity that outweighed the available power forced the University to cancel afternoon classes yesterday once Gov. Robert P. Casey declared the state a "disaster emergency."

The University had held morning classes and initially had no plans to cancel -- despite the predicted record-low temperatures. The decision to cancel classes and nonessential services resulted from a need to conserve power statewide.

But many students said the University should not have held classes at all yesterday. Nikole Hewitson (senior-elementary education) called the attempt to have classes "typical PSU," adding, "If they were worried about us, they would have closed earlier in the day."

University President Joab Thomas said that although administrators cared about students' safety, if students took proper precautions, they shouldn't have any problems -- at least not enough to warrant completely closing the University.

"We really can't close," Thomas said. "We have 15,000 students on campus depending on eating here."

Besides feeding students, the University has about 30,000 employees, a computer center connected worldwide and researchers conducting experiments that need to be worked on daily, Thomas said. Class and laboratory time is also difficult to make up, he added.

The University is a public agency spending public resources, including students' tuition, Thomas said. Deciding to close down, even for one day, does a disservice to a lot of people, he said.

In spite of the University's desire to stay open, some students said the dangers of being outdoors were too great.

"You walk 10 minutes to class and you can't feel your face when you get to class," said Mike Riedy (freshman-business), while helping his friend shop for a warmer hat.

But the need to conserve power so that hospitals and homes could have heat and electricity outweighed the need for the University to hold classes. The University canceled classes at about 2 p.m.

Problems erupted around campus yesterday as different areas tried to conserve energy and deal with cold-related problems. Dorms received warnings that power might be turned off for about an hour and two HUB Eateries closed.

Ritenour Health Center shut its doors at 5 p.m., following Pattee, which closed at 2:30 p.m. to conserve power. The library had problems running LIAS and other electronic services during the day.

All the Commonwealth Campuses closed as well. Earlier yesterday morning, only Beaver, Shenango and Ogontz campuses had closed, Fayette and Delaware County campuses canceled classes and Berks Campus canceled evening classes. The University's Hershey Medical Center stayed open.