Classes canceled Wednesday night, student march planned,university making decisions day-by-day

By: Cody Boteler, Senior Editor

According to an email from Interim Provost Maggie Reitz, class will end at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29. Any classes beginning at 7:15 p.m. or later will not be held.

According to Director of Communications Ray Feldmann, there are no threats of action or violence against Towson University tonight.

The email says that the decision to close early was made to allow students living in Baltimore City to make it home before the 10 p.m. curfew.

Cook Library will close at 10 p.m. Towson University Northeast and Shady Grove are unaffected by the early closures. On-campus activities and other buildings on campus will operate as regularly scheduled.

Students are planning a gathering at Freedom Square at 3 p.m.

The event’s Facebook page (Editor’s note: we have some reports of the link to the page not working if people are not logged in to Facebook. The event page is called “Campus Connection: The Fight for Freddie Gray.”) says that the time has come “to raise our voice and take a stand in solidarity” about what has been happening in Baltimore and beyond related to police brutality.

At 4:22 p.m., the organizers plan to travel to Penn Station in Baltimore to meet up with other college and high school marchers.

Classes Tuesday, April 28 after 5 p.m. were canceled, according to University emails and text notifications. Classes beginning at 4:15 p.m. or later did not meet.

An email from Interim Provost Maggie Reitz said that the decision was made so that students who live in the City of Baltimore could make it home before the curfew and to “exercise an abundance of caution.”

On campus meetings and activities were scheduled to continue. All buildings except for the library were scheduled to operate on their usual schedule. Cook Library is set to close at 8 p.m.

“We have so many students who live off campus or travel long distances, we just wanted to make sure that everybody was able to leave campus and make it home safely,” Director of Communications Ray Feldmann said.

Feldmann said that there are no credible threats or reasons to believe that any sort of violent activity will be taking place on Towson’s campus.

However, Feldmann added, the University has heard a lot of concern from students and parents of students. The decision to cancel classes “adds a layer of reassurance.”

All decisions about the University are being made on a day-by-day basis, and are not dependent on decisions that are being made in the City of Baltimore.

An email from Interim President Tim Chandler that was sent to students called Towson University “an anchor in the Baltimore region.”

The email continues: “When Baltimore hurts, Towson University hurts.   This past week’s events only strengthen our resolve to continue to develop and foster partnerships that support a strong Baltimore and region. ”

Two teach-ins have been scheduled on campus.

The first is Thursday, April 30, at 2 p.m. in the Potomac Lounge. The second teach-in is on Monday, May 4 at 11 a.m. in the Chesapeake rooms.

In an email, Vice President for Student Affairs Deb Moriarty said, ” I invite us to work together to find ways to create meaningful conversations that lead to greater understanding of the complexities of the current situation.”

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Close

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.