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UMass Boston shut on Monday; students can say 'thanks Obama!'
By adamg on Sat, 03/28/2015 - 12:09pm
UMass Boston has alerted its students and staff they can just stay home on Monday due to the official opening of Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate. A roving UHub recipient of the alert forwarded us a copy:
The University of Massachusetts Boston campus will be closed beginning at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 29 through Monday, March 30.
Campus will reopen for business on Tuesday, March 31.
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and other dignitaries will be on campus Monday for the dedication of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, requiring us to close the campus as the Secret Service implements its security measures.
All classes and activities are canceled. Campus roadways, parking lots, and the HarborWalk will also be closed. There will be no shuttle bus or MBTA bus service to the campus.
No one without prior security clearance will be allowed on campus.
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Comments
Even for Boston,
that would have been an adoring audience.
Sad when security trumps everything
What are we thinking that dedicating a building is worth closing down a campus? Or a highway? Or much of anything?
Not being Anti-Obama, but this is why I don't support the Olympic bid. So if the then-president (of either party) wants to attend beach vollyball on the Common, do we close off everything from the State House to Arlington St? When the president (or whoever else) attends a soccer game in Foxboro, will I95 and 495 be closed? (answer is yes). Aganis Arena event? Close Comm Ave. Fenway Event? Close Boylston st and maybe the Pike.
Also, aren't college campuses gun free, by law? Doesn't that provide a secure environment? (Snarky shot at gun control nut-jobs).
I fully understand the need for security, but security over-load is one reason to be wary of hosting big events. The Olympics could be a great time, but the unintended consequences will be horrible for anyone trying to live in the city.
#NoBostonOlympics
PS- It's not just "a couple of weeks". There is a year or more of construction before the events, there is the Special Olympics, then another period of construction to put things back.
Another day....
.... as time goes by the lost day will be forgotten, and the new institute will be pretty cool.
But it's sad that the President's visit requires a campus shutdown. It would be much better if students, staff and the public could be on campus for the event, as well as go about their normal day of classes and work.
Heavy Handed Security
It seems pretty heavy handed given there is a lot of space between the Library/Institute and the campus buildings for a security buffer zone. Does not send a good neighbor message as the latest addition to the UMass/Boston campus and to the students.
I went through the Institute a few weekends ago when they were working out the bugs in their tablet software. The replica of his Washington office was nice but the rest is a bit of a yawn for adults. Kids will enjoy it as a very expensive learning tool.
Been there lately?
I would postulate that the closure has nothing to do with how much land there is between the university and the EMK structure.
The problem is one of access.
The outer circuit drive (inland side by the dock - gas tank side) has been closed for months for campus utility line relocation, and the inland side (by the state archives) is also closed for construction. This forces all traffic entering from Mt Vernon Street or from Morrissey onto a very narrow roadway that is one lane in each direction, ending at the Campus Center loop. Just to get to the campus center the traffic is re-routed up and passed the state archive and JFK library as the main in and out route. Getting emergency vehicles in there would be a nightmare. In fact it is now.
When classes commence and let out it is a traffic nightmare even though most of the parking has been moved to Bayside. Add to that the shuttle buses and a couple of MBTA buses and its pretty tough. And sometimes a crane has to move. Result is gridlock. This will be ongoing for many months to come as new buildings are completed and the whole layout of the campus is rebuilt.
Eventually the circuit drive will be 2-way with a direct connection to Mt Vernon if the current design plan takes hold as laid out.
So from a security point of view with #1 and #2 on site... yeah... they have to close it.
Speculation here, but I bet they divert Logan traffic as well. The approach is right over that area
Jim Braude will get to the bottom of this!
I'm sure that he'll happily run the roadblock at high speed going the wrong way yet again, get away without being arrested, refer to himself as "the Rosa Parks of traffic citations" and then go back to bashing cyclists for being bad people because ... spandex! OMG spandex! ... in MY way!!!
Or, maybe, they'll just shoot him this time.
http://www.universalhub.com/node/21553
You are correct
Yes, you are correct. I forgot about the roads being blocked due to construction. Thanks for pointing that out.
Barrack HUSSEIN Obama
Barrack HUSSEIN Obama!
Congrats
You know his name.
No points.
Who Sane?
Obviously, not you sane.
Does no one else find haters
Does no one else find haters of the President who use his full name in this manner hilarious? lol. I guess it's just me.
What son
... What son come here!
Sorry Swirly, didn't get your
Sorry Swirly, didn't get your joke either. I guess I was more responding to ABBQ. 7 others share his lack of common humorous tropes w/ me!
Wrong
I don't know you and haven't been tracking your past comments to know that you were joking.
Meme away, dot-boy!
Haha, I should clarify that I
Haha, I should clarify that I meant you and others didn't get it, since there's no tone here on the internet, only reputation. Maybe I should have a used a '/S' tag.
I think that was an A. G. Bell reference
Your amusement may vary.
Come here Watson
Edward MOORE Kennedy
Edward MOORE Kennedy
Michelle LAVAUGHN ROBINSON Obama
Joseph ROBINETTE Biden
Actually ...
We did have a president who was known primarily by one of his middle initials.
RAFAEL CRUZ
Better Ted than Red.
This Happens.
Something similar happened at BU when I was a kid and GHB and Francois Mitterand were there. Another time, a little later when Bibi (Netanyahu) was at a colloquium. (Shrug.)
I can understand it - up to a
I can understand it - up to a point.
The campus buildings have enough separation from the Institute and the JFK library that it (UMB staying open for classes) probably could be managed*. The current campus road situation and especially the campus parking situation probably can't handle it.
* Says me, the guy with no background in law enforcement, event security, or counterterrorism.
This is a situation where a proactive university administration and levels of government and government agencies would work together to meet the security concerns and the logistics of keeping open for classes - like saying NO CARS on campus that day: the T putting on extra service on the Red Line, the University having its contractor run extra shuttle buses, the City encouraging South Bay Shopping Center to "volunteer" their parking lot as satellite parking for the day, etc...
Oh, yes - one other thing which can apply to these presidential visits any time, any city, any place, any President. Unless some urgent national/international crisis demands it for their schedule, can a POTUS please show enough sensitivity (and his security and logistics people enough sense) to NOT insist on driving to/from the airport (which necessitates a roster of highway shutdowns for 10-20 minutes) at the height of rush hour?
By the way, what happens to the people who live out there along Columbia Point? Some of whom live closer to the Institute than some of the campus buildings and parking lots are. Are they in lockdown for the day? Can they get to their jobs and home again? How about the public school on that street - do they lose another day of class?
It's disgusting
First, the collossal waste of money. The President has to come here, why? To dedicate a building? And close the whole university?
Don't they know how many days UMB has lost to snow already?
The President should stay in the White House and do his job. How many millions of dollars of taxpayers' money are they wasting on this?
You know, when Prince Charles came to Sanders' Theatre twenty years or so ago they only closed the building, not all of Harvard. That show how much the general paranoia level has increased since then.
When Tip O'Neill passed
They shut down all of North Cambridge. More than 20 years ago.
There is a difference between a figurehead and a president.