Pepperdine University has closed its campuses in Malibu and Calabasas through the Thanksgiving holiday as the Woolsey Fire continues to chew through acreage in both areas, the school announced Sunday.
All regularly scheduled classes and events on the university’s Malibu and Calabasas campuses will resume on Nov. 26.
Classes, however, will still take place “through a combination of online, email and remote assignments,” according to Pepperdine’s website.
More information will be sent to students by 5 p.m. Tuesday, school officials said.
After an extensive evaluation, including an assessment of the needs of our community members and ongoing challenges presented by the Woolsey Fire, Malibu and Calabasas class schedules have been modified through the Thanksgiving holiday period. More info: https://t.co/7s7MFJw23t
— Pepperdine University (@pepperdine) November 11, 2018
The university made the decision to shut both campuses after an extensive evaluation, according to a statement posted on the website.
That evaluation included assessing the needs of the school’s community members and looking at the challenges presented by the raging wildfire, which has scorched nearly 130 square miles in Los Angeles and Ventura counties as it burns for a fourth day.
On Friday night, Pepperdine students were told the shelter in place as the fire crept closer to the Malibu campus, even as the entire city was under an evacuation order.
The initial shelter-in-place order was later lifted, but on Sunday, authorities said 3,500 students remained sheltered on campus.
