Westfield State University on Friday announced that MSNBC reversed its decision to hold a live town hall with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) next Friday after te school received backlash from some students.
University President Ramon S. Torrecilha sent out a message to the campus community early in the afternoon confirming the event will no longer take place in wake of "disappointment and passionate opposition" from students who were involved in the spring musical's production, according to Mass Live.
"Although this is a missed opportunity that was sure to help the prominence of our institution, the relevance of public higher education in Massachusetts and create an amazing experience for students, faculty, and staff alike, the spring theater production will now move forward without interruption," Torrecilha said in a statement. "Look for promotion about the 'Urinetown' performances, which debut April 18."
The university received backlash on social media after it tried to hold the town hall on Dever Stage a few days before the musical was scheduled to take place in the same venue.
Anaila Aleman, a Westfield State senior and theater major, said she and other cast members in the "Urinetown" production were told on Thursday night they would have to do their show in a different venue to accommodate MSNBC's town hall.
"We had the news broken to us and we just kind of sat there, like, 'Is this really going on? Do we really have to take all of this down?'" she said. "It was my first time actually coming in to see the entire set in completion."
She went on to say the cast and crew were willing to be flexible because they were excited to hear she was visiting, but she said they were frustrated by the university's poor planning, Mass Live reported.
"It's been awhile since we put on a musical in Dever ... this was something that was talked about for awhile and planned for awhile," she said. "The fact that all of this news just came down on us so suddenly, it was a real shocker. Understandably so, we just felt like, 'Wow, do you guys not care about the work that we're doing if you're so willing to just scrap it for something else?'"
Andrew Morin, who graduated from Westfield State University in 2017, said he became aware of pushback over the town hall after seeing a post in an online alumni group.
"They were looking for support, to kind of get the word out about how this was happening," he said.
Morin, who said he performed in various shows at WSU, criticized Torrecilha's handling of the situation -- particularly the statement sent to the campus community Friday.
"As an alum, reading his response made it feel like MSNBC cares about the students more than the president does," he said.