Campus police left students confused and anxious Thursday morning, Oct. 22 after they were stopped from entering the Social Sciences building.
The entrance closest to the West Deck parking was guarded by two members of campus police, and students were redirected to the entrance across from Willingham Hall, which also had campus police posted out front. Students were allowed to enter the building around 8:15 a.m., but some were left with a feeling of unease about the whole situation.
Some students began to develop their own theories when campus police failed to inform students as to what was going on.
21-year-old Ann Marie Massengale, a senior public relations major, did some research of her own to try and figure out what was happening.
“I looked it up on Google to see what might be going on and it said that the last time this happened, it was a sexual assault,” Massengale said.
Some students who were already in the building were told to come and wait outside. Classes already in session were left alone.
“I was very confused,” junior media studies major Brianna Foley said.
“I was going upstairs to class and I heard the police say ‘Go outside, everyone needs to go outside’ and then they guarded the door. My friend’s class was already in session and they did not make her leave,” Foley said.
Not all students suspected something bad was happening. Some thought it might just be a drill of some kind.
“I wasn’t concerned,” said Matt Neuenschwander, a 24-year-old junior and public relations major. “I thought it might be related to the fire alarm going off on the previous Tuesday or something like that.”
Two days previously, students and teachers alike were made to wait outside prior to 8 a.m. classes while fire alarms sounded off in the building until around 8:15 a.m.
The situation causing all the confusion turned out to be a routine bomb sweep done because an Israeli consulate was speaking in the building later that day.
Grace Walker, a records tech for the campus police said, “Sergeant Jackson went in with one of his dogs and checked for bombs.”
Campus police said that the bomb sweep was a standard procedure and that, had anyone been in danger, they would have notified students and staff. Some students did not agree with this course of action.
“They should have told us what happened instead of just keeping us outside,” organizational communication major Taylor Welch said.
Students arriving after 8:30 a.m. were able to get into the building without any trouble.
