Campus Secure, Students Evacuated Ahead of Hurricane

By | October 5, 2016

President Glenn McConnell provided the following update regarding campus hurricane preparations on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016:

Dear Campus Community:

This morning, approximately 50 students from the College of Charleston as well as members of the College’s student affairs team boarded buses bound for the University of South Carolina in Columbia to wait out Hurricane Matthew.

Thanks University of South Carolina for taking our evacuating students to Columbia to ride out the hurricane.

Thanks University of South Carolina for taking our evacuating students to Columbia to ride out the hurricane.

As you know, our students were originally scheduled to head to Clemson, but due to many students from other universities around the state heading there as well, we decided to reroute our students to USC. I want to thank Clemson President Jim Clements for offering his hospitality to our students. I also want to thank University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides for agreeing to take our students and for being a gracious host to the College. These relationships between our three universities reinforce the collaborative nature of higher education in South Carolina and our state’s sense of community. We are lucky to have such partnerships.

The College is officially closed at this time, and our buildings and assets are secure. This was a herculean effort made possible by members of public safety, physical plant, grounds crew, academic affairs and information technology. I thank them for all of their help and hard work.

I also extend my thanks to the members of residence life, student affairs, new student programs and dining services – for working around the clock to ensure that our students were safely evacuated and the concerns of students and families were addressed as best as possible.

The College’s leadership team will continue to monitor Hurricane Matthew and its impact on our campus. Once we are able to assess any potential damage, we will notify all of you when we will be reopening campus. If you are curious about how the College fares during the storm, you can check out our webcams by visiting http://webcams.cofc.edu. For updates, please monitor your College of Charleston email and the College’s emergency website (emergency.cofc.edu).

Please stay safe and be careful over the coming days. I look forward to seeing you all back on campus in the near future.

Sincerely,

Glenn