Posted on 09/08/2001 9:00:59 AM PDT by KantianBurke
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have scheduled two days of meetings adjacent to our campus September 29 and 30, 2001. As a result of these meetings, municipal officials expect as many as 100,000 visitors in and around Foggy Bottom. They anticipate disruptions of normal operations and have expressed concern for the campus.
While we believe that the majority of guests, including protesters, will peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights, recent experience with similar meetings in other locations and the best advice from city and federal sources, have focused our attention. As part of their crowd control efforts, police will be erecting barricades around a security perimeter, some of which will run through our campus. According to MPD, protests will likely commence before the meetings begin and continue for a time after they end.
Having assessed the overall impact of the World Bank/IMF meetings and the protests on our campus community, Metropolitan Police have recommended that GW close during this period and ask all but designated personnel to leave the area.
After careful consideration of all available information, including the recommendation of police, the decision has been made to CLOSE the Foggy Bottom Campus from Thursday evening, September 27 until Tuesday, October 2. During this period, no classes will be held at the Foggy Bottom Campus. All facilities at Foggy Bottom will be closed, including all GW residence halls.
Specifically, no classes will begin after 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 27 and all buildings on the Foggy Bottom Campus will be locked as of 8:00 p.m. Classes beginning before 4:00 p.m. will continue to conclusion, subject of course to modification should circumstances warrant. Please note that classes affected will be rescheduled (see below).
This closure applies to all classes and buildings, including administrative offices, that are part of the Foggy Bottom campus, as well as all GW Continuing Education classes in Washington, D.C.
Employees designated to be on the Foggy Bottom Campus during this period will receive special instructions regarding work assignments and schedules. All other faculty and staff assigned to Foggy Bottom should not report to work.
The University will be open and operating on a normal schedule at all other campuses, satellites and administrative offices in Virginia and Maryland. Faculty and staff assigned to those locations during this period should report to work.
The GW Hospital will remain OPEN and employees will receive instructions from hospital officials regarding work schedules and restrictions.
University buildings in Foggy Bottom are currently scheduled to re-open at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 2. Non-faculty staff are expected to report to work as regularly scheduled on the morning of October 2. Employees scheduled to begin work before 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning will receive special instructions from their supervisors regarding work assignments and schedules.
Residence halls in Foggy Bottom will reopen at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, October 2 and classes will resume at 4:00 p.m. that day.
The University expects all students to leave the Foggy Bottom Campus area during this time period. Students will not be permitted to remain in the residence halls after closing. In those situations where this presents extreme difficulties, University officials will work with students who live in our Foggy Bottom residence halls to find alternate accommodations. The Community Living and Learning Center staff will contact all students in Foggy Bottom residence halls by e-mail or in person to confirm students' departures for the September 27th closing. Students who have extenuating circumstances that hinder their departure or students who need special assistance should advise their community facilitator or, in upper division halls, their community director, promptly.
Letters to parents of undergraduates are now in the mail outlining this plan. Parents are also being encouraged to host friends of their sons and daughters who might otherwise have difficulty going home. All students should alert family members of their plans for the period of time from September 27 to October 2. Parents and others will want to know how to reach their students.
In addition to the closings, the University will heighten security in all buildings on both the Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses beginning Friday, September 21. GWorld identification cards will be checked at the main entrances to all residence halls and the overnight guest policy for non-GW students will be suspended beginning 8:00 p.m. on Friday, September 21. Students, faculty and staff are urged to carry their GWorld identification cards in order to gain access to University buildings beginning on Friday, September 21. Once the University reopens, the guest policy suspension will continue through 12:00 noon, Friday, October 5.
Yom Kippur services, conducted by GW Hillel at various sites on campus, have been moved to locations off campus. Students, faculty, staff and other community members who plan to attend GW Hillel Yom Kippur services on Wednesday, September 26 and Thursday, September 27, should contact Hillel for information about the alternate locations.
These decisions have not been taken lightly. We would not proceed in this way if we believed our community could benefit from this experience in a conventional environment. Our mission is to educate, but it is also our responsibility to protect the welfare of our community. The University respects the rights of all involved. However, the history of recent protests demonstrates that we face a potentially serious situation with risks for our students, faculty and staff. Even in a best case scenario our proximity to the meetings and crowds would make it difficult, if not impossible, to operate on a normal schedule.
Is Dubya hosting another state dinner so soon?
Always a pleasure to have you confirm for us your outlook on human life.
This "debris" as you call it, simply are folks too muddled and ignorant to know better.
And, in any case, the "rent-a-mobs" are doing EXACTLY the bang-up job at invoking support for the World State's Finance Department from simpletons like yourself.
Sucker.
The unelected, unaccountable "officials" of the IMF, World Bank and WTO, all of which are ABOVE the US Constitution.
WTO, NAFTA, FTAA - UnConstitutional - NO - the Founders and Framers would fully back them, right - SHEEPERS?
SAY BAaaaaa sheepers and bow to your unelected masters.
Good One! :-)
Yeah, I keep wondering when the Eastern Establishment will just go away!
I can't think of a better way to describe the IMF and World Bank!
Unfortunately, these are the very departments that will be joining the "revolutionary" horde in the street--certainly they will be giving aid and comfort to the rioters.
Most likely it's for this ominous possibility that the Administration is closing down the campus--otherwise the offices of the departments you mention will turn into bivouac nests for the visiting left-wing whackos.
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