Expected Protests At G8, NATO Meetings Here Spur Colleges To Reschedule Events
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In the spring, Chicago will host two big international meetings.
And while the G8 and NATO summits are more than half a year away, protesters are already applying for permits to hold demonstrations.
Daley and Federal plazas are not the only locations where authorities expect rallies. The protesters are also expected to gather at Grant Park in the South Loop, and that's prompting some colleges and universities to cancel activities.
Columbia's Manifest urban-arts festival is the college's annual showcase that attracts some 30,000 people to the South Loop. It was scheduled for May 18, right in the middle of the G8 and NATO summits, which are to take place May 15-22 around the city.
Thousands of protesters are expected, so Columbia will reschedule the festival.
"We plan to be using all of these spaces and parking lots, and it just wasn't going to work to have both going on at the same time," Mark Kelly, Columbia's vice president of student affairs, said.
Manifest will now take place two weeks earlier, on May 4.
That's not the only change. This year's graduation was scheduled the day after the festival; it now moves to May 5 and 6.
Another big change: Christmas break is two weeks shorter.
Columbia's not the only school affected. Administrators at Roosevelt University are meeting next week to decide if summer school classes will be cancelled that week.
DePaul plans to cancel some minor activities and is looking at its campus schedule.
Administrators at East-West University not only plan to continue classes that week, but they're scheduling special lectures to use the summit as a teaching moment.
