Evergreen Closes For Several Days After Threats to Campus

ashley.rae | June 5, 2017
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Evergreen State College, which has recently been embroiled in controversy after protesters held the campus hostage to demand the resignation of a “racist” professor, has been closed for several days as result of multiple threats to the campus.

On June 1, a notice on the Evergreen website wrote the college is “closing immediately.” The notice explained, “In response to a direct threat to campus safety, the college is closing immediately for the day. All are asked to leave campus or return to residence halls for instructions.”

According to the Evergreen website, the campus remained closed on June 2 with “suspended operations.” The campus was reopened on June 3 with “regular operations,” but closed again with “suspended operations” on June 5.

On June 2, the website states, “A determination on when to fully re-open campus will be made as soon as possible.”

Officials claim the first threat was called in to the Thurston County Communications Center, TCOMM 911, around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. The caller, using an unknown phone number, claimed to be an armed individual who was heading to campus. TCOMM 911 notified the school.

Students were notified to evacuate campus via email, text message, and broadcasts over the campus speaker system.

On June 2, the Olympian reported that a press briefing, spokeswoman Sandra Kaiser said there is no information about the nature of the threat. When asked about whether the threat relates to the campus controversies, she said, “There’s nothing that I know of that connects these things directly. But, of course, we live in troubled times and you’ve got to take public safety as a priority for everybody.”

Later in the day, Seattle Times reported the caller said he would “going to execute as many people on the campus as I can get ahold of” and criticized the “communist scumbag town.”

On June 3, the campus reopened with normal operations and classes as usual, but on June 4, the Seattle Times reported there was a “new external threat” that resulted in the campus closing on June 5.

Like the previous statement, the university said, “A determination on when to fully re-open campus will be made as soon as possible.”

The campus shut downs come after students demanded the resignation of biology professor Bret Weinstein for opposing the school’s “Day of Absence” that told white people to leave campus for the day. Students held the president of the school, George Bridges, hostage to meet their demands (including no homework).

Weinstein was forced to hold class off campus as a result of police determining he would not be safe on campus.

On May 30, Evergreen issued an update on “Safety, Equity, and Free Speech at Evergreen” saying Weinstein would not be terminated for his views on the Day of Absence. They also claimed the Day of Absence did not require whites to leave campus.

On June 3, the Board of Trustees issued a statement on “Renewing Our Commitment to Tolerance and Respect at Evergreen.” In the statement, the board of trustees discussed the “commitment to leveling the playing field in higher education for communities of color, the underserved and marginalized groups is unwavering.” The statement also discussed the importance of freedom of speech, while simultaneously saying that going forward, the school will “delve further into issues of diversity and equity.”

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