Campus Alert Archive
CofC

Buses to a Designated Shelter: Charleston Empties Its Campus Ahead of Irma

SChurricaneemergency notificationmedium confidence

With Hurricane Irma threatening the South Carolina coast, the College of Charleston suspended all operations from Friday, Sept. 8, through Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 and closed its residence halls at 6 p.m. Friday. The college urged everyone to evacuate early to beat traffic and ran an evacuation-needs form so students without their own transportation could be bused to the college's designated emergency shelter location.

Alerts
3
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
College of Charleston
Public Masters · SC
~11,000 studentsCofC Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionThe College Today — monitoring notice (reconstructed)265 chars
The College of Charleston is closely monitoring Hurricane Irma. No changes to operations have been made at this time. Students, faculty and staff should review their personal emergency and evacuation plans now and monitor cofc.edu and official channels for updates.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from The College Today's initial monitoring post on Sept. 6, 2017; the 'closely monitoring' and 'no changes to operations' framing matches the college's published language.
The first message deliberately makes no operational change — it primes the community to prepare before any closure decision is finalized.
Telling people to review evacuation plans 'now' is the lead-time message that later makes the Friday closure orderly.
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstructionThe College Today — College Suspends All Operations (reconstructed)524 chars
The College of Charleston will suspend all operations beginning Friday, Sept. 8, through Tuesday, Sept. 12. All classes and College events are cancelled. Residence halls will close at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8. We strongly encourage all faculty, staff and students to begin evacuating as soon as possible to avoid traffic delays. Students who need College-provided transportation and shelter should complete the Hurricane Irma Evacuation Needs Form. Buses will transport students to the College's designated emergency location.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from The College Today's Sept. 7 closure announcement; the Sept. 8-12 suspension dates and 6 p.m. Friday residence-hall closure are quoted directly from the college.
The evacuation-needs form is the equity mechanism — it identifies students with no car so the college can bus them out rather than leaving them stranded on a closing campus.
'Begin evacuating as soon as possible to avoid traffic delays' reflects the hard lesson of coastal evacuations, where late departures get trapped on gridlocked inland routes.
ALL CLEAREmail
Approximate reconstructionCollege of Charleston Libraries — closure recap (reconstructed)226 chars
Hurricane Irma has passed and the College of Charleston will resume normal operations. Classes and College events will reconvene. Residence halls are reopening. Welcome back, and thank you for your patience during the closure.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from the college's closure record, which documents the Sept. 8-12 suspension window after which operations resumed.
This is a genuine all-clear: it explicitly lifts the closure and reopens residence halls rather than maintaining any evacuation or avoidance instruction.
Because Irma weakened to a tropical storm before reaching Charleston, the reopening followed the originally planned closure window without extension.
Context

Background

Hurricane Irma raked the Florida peninsula on Sept. 10-11, 2017, then tracked inland and weakened, reaching South Carolina as a tropical storm. South Carolina's governor ordered evacuations of several barrier islands as the storm approached. The College of Charleston suspended all operations from Friday, Sept. 8, through Tuesday, Sept. 12, closing its peninsula campus and shutting residence halls at 6 p.m. Friday. The college's closure record shows it ran a Hurricane Irma Evacuation Needs Form so that students without transportation could be bused to a designated emergency shelter — a critical service for an urban campus where many students arrive without cars. The Post and Courier covered the cancellation. Charleston ultimately experienced significant tidal flooding from Irma but avoided the catastrophic wind damage feared earlier in the week.
Analysis

Key Findings

The College of Charleston suspended all operations Sept. 8-12, 2017, and closed residence halls at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8
An Evacuation Needs Form let students without cars request college-provided buses to a designated emergency shelter
The college urged early evacuation specifically to avoid the traffic gridlock that plagues coastal departures
Irma weakened to a tropical storm before reaching Charleston, so the college reopened on its planned schedule
Outcome
Irma's track shifted west and weakened to a tropical storm by the time it reached South Carolina, sparing the Charleston peninsula a direct hit. The College of Charleston resumed operations after the Sept. 12 closure window.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    College Suspends All Operations for Sept. 8 Through Sept. 12 - The College Today
    today.cofc.edu
  2. Official
    College Monitoring Hurricane Irma - The College Today
    today.cofc.edu
  3. Official
    College Closes Due to Hurricane Irma - College of Charleston Libraries
    library.cofc.edu
  4. News
    College of Charleston Cancels Classes Due Hurricane Irma - Post and Courier
    postandcourier.com
Tags
hurricaneirmasouth-carolinacharlestonemergency-notificationevacuationcampus-closureevacuation-transportation2017-hurricane-season
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion