After the VT incident last spring, USD has been very proactive with respect to campus safety. The administration asked faculty, staff, and students to register their cell-phones so that they can broadcast a message via both voice-mail and text-messaging in case of a campus emergency. A few months back, they sent one out when the groundskeepers found a box of ammo under a bush by the bookstore. During the wild fires a few weeks ago, we received numerous messages about campus being closed, etc...
Yesterday, I received a text message from the university saying that a "suspicious package" had been found outside the Immaculata on USD's campus, and that the San Diego Bomb Squad had been called. Later in the day, I received the following message via email:
A suspicious package found on the University of San Diego campus today was identified as a student's discarded science project.
At about 11 a.m., a general services employee reported a suspicious item found in a trash can in front of the Immaculata Church.
USD Public Safety called the San Diego Police and Fire departments. The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and county departments also responded to the incident.
The Immaculata and the Hughes Administration Center [this is Al's building] were briefly evacuated to ensure public safety, and the area was cordoned off. Students, faculty and staff were immediately alerted to the incident using our emergency messaging system Connect-ED.
Just before 1:30 p.m., officials identified the package as a discarded science project that posed no risk to anyone.
"We're pleased that our emergency notification system worked so well and that cooperation with the San Diego Police and Fire departments and other agencies resulted in an efficient resolution of this situation," said Timothy O' Malley, vice president for University Relations at USD.
What kind of projects are the science faculty assigning? It must have been a good volcano if they needed the bomb squad, FBI, and ATF to deal with it! Boy, do I feel safe.
Was it a diorama about bombs?
I'm not sure, Watoosa. Somehow, I doubt it. But since I'm writing this in the airport, I can't help but think what it would be like to try and get such a science project through the TSA screeners!