The University of Maryland in College Park is pausing a controversial housing project in Guilford Woods after months of protest.

In an email last week, University President Darryll Pines and graduate student body president Tamara Allard wrote that they will continue to study the area to address environmental concerns about the 15-acre wooded site raised by protesters.

“We have been listening carefully to the graduate student community to understand their needs and concerns for how we can better support the tremendous work they do for our university and our research enterprise,” they wrote.

Instead, the university will look at building new housing on the site of the now-closed Old Leonardtown just east of Fraternity Row, an alternative that activists with Save Guilford Woods had suggested.

The group posted a brief update on its website celebrating the pause.

“This is incredible news because it means that the planned deforestation of Guilford Woods is now on hold,” it wrote. “However, there is still much work to be done to ensure that Guilford Woods and Guilford Run are permanently protected.”

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