GWU To Evacuate Campus On The Day Of My Interview!!!

Looks like I'm going to have to reschedule my interview. A friend in the area sent me an email telling me that GWU would be evacuating the campus due to IMF protests. I'll be calling on Monday, and I suggest that anyone with an interview there do the same to make sure you don't get there to find it a ghost town. I found this article at wired.com:

(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON -- George Washington University will cancel
classes and evacuate residence halls Sept. 27 to Oct. 2 during
anticipated demonstrations surrounding World Bank and International
Monetary Fund meetings that will be held that weekend, the University
announced Thursday morning.

Although the meeting are scheduled for Sept. 29-30, GW's Foggy
Bottom campus will close for five days because of the large number of
protesters anticipated. D.C. officials expect as many as 100,000
visitors and protesters that weekend.

IMF and World Bank officials originally planned a five-day conference
but cut it to two days to minimize the impact of the expected protests.

"The challenge here is you've got a huge amount of protesters
forecasted and you've got barricades through campus," said Director of
University Relations Gretchen King. "It would be extremely difficult to
continue operating on any normal basis at all."

No classes will be held and all facilities, including residence halls, will
be closed at the Foggy Bottom campus, according to a press release
from University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. The Mount
Vernon campus will remain open but no classes will be held there
during this period.

Students should go home, stay with friends off campus or at Mount
Vernon during the scheduled closure, King said.

"It's a good recommendation to go home, and we're going to be
working with people who can't do that," she said. "It's a challenge and
we're looking for students to help us get through this event."

GW will move the Mount Vernon campus shuttle stop off the Foggy Bottom campus, King said.

Classes will not begin after 4 p.m. Sept. 27 and all campus buildings will be locked by 8 p.m.
that day. Classes beginning before 4 p.m. will continue until their scheduled conclusion.

Residence halls will re-open at 11 a.m. Oct. 2 and classes will resume at 4 p.m. that day.

The University will also heighten security in all GW buildings beginning Sept. 21, according to
the press release. Students and staff will be required to show GWorld cards at the entrances to
all residence halls and University buildings, and will not be allowed to host overnight guests who
are non-GW students until 12 p.m. on Oct. 5.

King said GW is using all means of communication to inform students and staff about the
closure. Information is also available on the GW Web site at www.gwu.edu/imf.html.

The University has also mailed letters to the parents of undergraduates outlining the closure
plan, according to the press release. GW announced this decision after press time for
Thursday's edition of The Hatchet.

Protests during the 2000 World Bank and IMF meetings drew an estimated 6,000 to 10,000
demonstrators to the Foggy Bottom area, and cancelled GW classes for one day.

King said the larger number of protesters expected prompted Metropolitan Police to suggest GW
close during the meetings this year.

"This certainly was not a knee-jerk reaction," King said, adding that GW has "hundreds" of
people working on the University-wide plan. "These decisions have not been taken lightly."