Samuel Frazier of the CofC grounds crew blows branches and leaves in Cistern Yard on Oct. 10, 2016.
The College of Charleston on Monday continued with clean-up and repair efforts in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. A small number of employees returned to campus to begin preparing for the reopening of residence halls on Tuesday and the resumption of classes and campus activities on Wednesday.
“Overall, it appears that the downtown campus fared relatively well during the hurricane,” said John Cordray, director of the College’s Physical Plant, which oversees campus facilities and utilities. “A couple of buildings sustained some water damage, and we lost a few small trees, but so far what we are seeing is better than what we expected and less damage than what we saw after last year’s historic flooding.”
The water damage could affect a small number of on-campus housing units as well as some class meeting locations. Any changes or notifications will be communicated directly to those affected.
Craig Jones of the CofC grounds crew rakes leaves along St. Philip Street on Oct. 10, 2016.
On a cool and cloudless Monday morning, grounds workers raked up a carpet of leaves and branches strewn across the Cistern Yard and along St. Philip and George streets. But the College’s signature live oaks appear to have survived unscathed. A landscape crew cleared away a tree that fell in the driveway of the President’s House at 6 Glebe St. Browning palm fronds littered Calhoun Street and other major thoroughfares around campus, and leaves and debris collected around numerous storm drains.
The green shutters on Randolph Hall remained uncharacteristically closed, but inside the building, College administrators were busy determining whether any class schedules will need to be adjusted and how and when any make-up class days will be implemented. Specifics on these and other issues will be communicated as soon as possible to the campus community.
On Monday afternoon, about 50 students and several staff from the Division of Student Affairs returned to campus from Columbia, S.C., where they rode out the hurricane at the University of South Carolina.
“They treated us really, really well,” said CofC student Ethan Shapiro. “The accommodations and the food were great.”
In addition to being provided access to the USC fitness center and movie theater, the students were also given tickets to Sunday’s USC-Georgia game at Williams-Brice Stadium, which was postponed from Saturday due to the hurricane.
CofC Students who were evacuated to USC in Columbia returned to campus on Monday afternoon after a three-hour bus ride.
The plight of the evacuated students and the hospitality of the USC campus drew significant attention on social media. Under the headline, “George St. to Greene St.,” the USC student newspaper, The Daily Gamecock, devoted a front-page story to the CofC students being welcomed with open arms on the state’s flagship university.
It was just one of many inspiring stories that emerged from the evacuation. Cougar Nation displayed typical strength and kindness throughout the catastrophic weather event – from the CofC parent listserv, which was full of current and former parents offering shelter to evacuating students, to the College family all around the world so desperate to know how their beloved campus weathered the hurricane that they logged on to view the College’s webcams at a rate of more than 250,000 views between Friday and Monday.
The CofC webcams also proved popular with meteorologists covering the hurricane, including local news in Charleston, TV stations in California and nationally on the Weather Channel.
CofC students (from L to R) Ethan Shapiro, Alex Jernigan, Gavin Garner and Courtney Whatling were among a group of 50 students who evacuated to USC in Columbia.
