Two students were struck and injured by a heavy panel inside Dvorak Concert Hall in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Wednesday evening.

The students were sent immediately to Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospital Center.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said, at this point, he does not know the severity of the injuries.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not expecting something real serious, and I certainly hope there’s nothing very serious.”

Nadler added it is difficult to access information with medical situations because of confidentiality and other factors. He will be doing everything he can to find out the students’ conditions.

“All I can say, at this point, is a panel fell off the wall and unfortunately, two of our students were struck,” Nadler said.

He said he does not know if the panel was built to be moveable or stationary.

The panel struck the students while they were rehearsing for Eastern’s Symphony Orchestra.

Nadler said the incident happened around 7:30 p.m.

He said, starting this morning, the situation will be investigated and the Dvorak Concert Hall will be closed until further notice.

He added the hall would also be inspected during the morning.

“There will be a thorough inspection to make sure everything else will be OK,” Nadler said. “But that’s really our secondary concern.”

He said he felt good about the response time to the incident. The rehearsal was canceled and everyone exited the hall efficiently, Nadler added. He said he would not know for a while when the hall will be re-opened.

“We just have to hope for good news about the students,” Nadler said.

Stephen Di Benedetto can be reached at 581-7942 or at sdibenedetto@eiu.edu.