Canvas is currently down at universities nationwide for maintenance due to a security threat to Instructure, the UT Office of Innovative Technology said Thursday afternoon.

“No ETA at this time of when it will be back up,” an OIT employee said. “Faculty members also cannot access Canvas right now.”

Students received an email from Provost John Zomchick and Chief Academic Technology Officer Dan Harder providing information on student data.

“Based on what Instructure has found to date, the data involved appears to include personal information,” the email said. “At this time, Instructure has found no indication that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved, and the university does not store this information in Canvas.”

Thursday, May 7 is a designated study day for UT students, making the issue an inconvenience during finals week. 

OIT said the Canvas company shut down the website itself for multiple universities.

“As of right now, I believe it’s an issue with the website in general,” an employee of the Office of the Provost said.

Emailing professors about deadlines and resources remains the primary action step that students can take at this time, both offices said.

“All faculty are urged to be flexible and compassionate with students during the Canvas outage, especially as we are entering exams,” the email said. “Please communicate with your students, reassure them, and keep them aware of any changes for your class.”

Instructure has posted a status page containing updates on the outage. 

This is a developing story. Follow for more updates.