Calvin Closing
Calvin College is closing its campus as the result of what school officials are calling "a threat against the college."
All of Calvin's residence halls and on-campus apartments will be closed as of 11 p.m. this evening. Students have been notified of the threat and have been asked to leave campus. Calvin student life officials are tracking deparures to ensure that the college knows where all on-campus students are staying this eveing.
Also Calvin faculty and staff are being called, via a phone tree, and told that the campus will be closed tomorrow. They also are being asked to take in students who might not have a place to stay for the evening.
About 2,200 of Calvin's 4,300 students live on campus. About 1,100 of those 2,200 students are from Michigan and it is expected that they will return home for the weekend. Some of the 1,100 out-of-state students are close enough to go home for the weekend (hailing from places like Chicago, Cleveland and Indianapolis) while others from further away (place like Florida and California) will go home with friends and will be billeted with Calvin faculty and staff.
Those matches between students and faculty and staff will be made at 9 p.m. this evening by the flagpole in front of the Spoelhof Center (the main administration building on campus).
Assuming everything is fine on Friday, the day the phoned-in threat was to take place, the residence halls would reopen at 9 p.m. that evening.
"Though the nature of the threat is unclear, we have decided that the threat is sufficiently serious that we needed to put in place a plan to close Calvin College," said Calvin president Gaylen Byker. "This decision was made by me, and my cabinet, after careful deliberation with the Grand Rapids Police Department and Campus Safety officials. In light of recent terrorist activities in the United States, and yet also the large number of hoax incidents which have occurred since, the decision to close the campus
was difficult."
All students have been asked to contact their family members to inform them of the situation and to encourage their prayers. The phone bank in the Admissions office is available for any students who wish to call family.
All special events this evening and all classes for Friday, September 21 have been canceled. Commuter students are asked not to travel to campus. Those that do will be informed at the roadway entrances and asked to return home. Calvin Campus Safety officials will patrol the campus all day on Friday.
Information on the incident, new developments, and verification of campus re-opening will be posted on Calvin's website and on a recorded message at 1-800-560-6391 or 616-957-8615.