The University of Massachusetts will be open and hold classes as normally scheduled today, but school officials are urging those traveling to campus to take caution when heading out, a University spokesman said yesterday.

“This is a transitional period,” said Ed Blaguszewski, the director of news and media relations at UMass, in a phone interview yesterday evening. “Individual faculty, staff and students should take caution.”

School officials had decided to call off classes for Monday due to power outages and other issues caused from Saturday’s rare snowstorm, but made a decision yesterday evening to have the University reopen today because of some of the progress made in recovery efforts, Blaguszewski noted.

A group of more than a dozen school and local officials – including Blaguszewski – that are part of an emergency operations committee met yesterday to discuss the reopening of the University, he said. The group received updates on conditions from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and then offered a recommendation to James Sheehan, the school’s vice chancellor for administration and finance, he noted.

Blaguszewski did, however, stress that those who do not feel safe about coming to the University should not take any risks in doing so.

Along with UMass, Smith College, Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College will be open for classes today. Hampshire College, though, will be closed. Amherst public schools will also be closed, according to Amherst Select Board Chairwoman Stephanie O’Keeffe.

But the decision to reopen UMass and hold classes today received mixed reviews from a slew of students interviewed last night.

“As a person who lives in the dorms and has power, I still feel it is very wrong to have class tomorrow and tell people that despite the fact you have no power, your papers are due and you have tests,” said UMass student Chris Faria, who noted that he thought one of the only reasons why there are classes today is due to the fact that snow days do not extend the academic calendar. “I know you can say that you don’t need electricity to learn, but so many people rely on it. If you can’t access the Internet, then you can’t turn in your paper or homework in some cases.”

Melissa Karlen, a senior English major at UMass, said that she doesn’t think it’s likely that everyone will show up to their classes today.

“Even if they do [hold classes], they can’t expect everyone to get here,” said Karlen, who had her laptop plugged into an outlet in the UMass Campus Center yesterday evening because she didn’t have power at her home the Sunderland.

Some interviewed last night, though, said they didn’t think the decision to hold classes today was a major malfeasance.

“I would have loved to have a four-day weekend, but I only have class at 2:30 p.m., so it is no biggie that we have class,” said UMass student Kurt Nakkan.

“I don’t have any classes on Tuesdays anyways, so I don’t care, but it is a little rough if you live off campus,” added student Joe Daigneault.

In addition to classes, all of the normal services offered on campus should be up and running today, Blaguszewski said.

Katie Landeck and Herb Scribner contributed to this report.

William Perkins can be reached at [email protected].