KTLA

Pepperdine Closes Malibu, Calabasas Campuses Through Thanksgiving Holiday Due to Woolsey Fire

Pepperdine University President Andrew Benton speaks to students. (Credit: KTLA via Twitter)

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.

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.