UT campus under evacuation order

[jsr]

Source: Austin American-Statesman

At 8:35 a.m. the university received a call from a male with a middle eastern accent claiming to have placed bombs all over campus. He said he was with Al Qaeda and these bombs would go off in 90 minutes. President Powers was notified and it was decided to evacuate all of the buildings out of an abundance of caution.

EARLIER: The University of Texas emergency alert system posted the following notice:

Evacuation due to threats on campus. Immediately evacuate ALL buildings and get as far away as possible. More information to come.

A UT official told the American-Statesman that the university had received multiple bomb threats to multiple buildings.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2012/09/14/ut_campus_under_evacuation_ord.html

[MineralMan]

1. A similar situation is going on at

North Dakota State University. I'm hearing that right now on WCCO radio here in St. Paul. Everyone is being told to leave the campus at once. Bomb threat.

[Drale]

2. The school has a duty to protect the students

but this is probably a false alarm because Al Qaeda would never call and say that they planted bombs which will go off in 90 minutes. They are interested in chaos and they would never give people time to escape. It freaking amazes me how stupid Americans can be at time, who the hell would think this kind of prank call is funny.

[47of74]

6. That was my impression as well...

...not al-Qaida. Instead some far right domestic group at work here stirring up trouble.

[TroyD]

3. But why would this happen in 2 different universities today?

It sounds co-ordinated.

I am almost beginning to wonder if a group of powerful people are deliberately stirring up as much trouble as they can in order to damage Obama politically.

[Imalittleteapot]

4. Yep. nt

[Lucy Goosey]

5. You're not the only one thinking that, Troy

I'm not conspiracy-minded at all, but, "this is being done to harm the President politically" was my first thought when I read there was a second school.

[4th law of robotics]

7. Probably a false alarm but they should take it seriously.

[Roland99]

8. If it *was* "Al Qaeda", why the f*** would they call ahead of time?!?!

seriously.

[xiamiam]

9. hello..this is al qaeda ..we're going to wreak havoc today..click

what a load of bs

[cash__whatiwant]

10. its midterms...

could students trying to be get out of them.

[woodsprite]

11. It shouldn't be mid-terms yet.

Around here (DE/PA), University/Colleges just started back at the end of August.

[jsr]

12. I think classes just started a couple of weeks ago

[Auntie Bush]

13. The whole world is going crazy!

[rainbow4321]

14. Sounds like they need to tweek their emergency plans

I say this as a mom of a UT alumni...

From what I read in their local papers:

They didnt sound out a warning until 80 minutes after the initial phone call..the caller told them the so called "bombs" placed in multiple buildings would go off in 90 minutes.

The outdoor campus wide alarms went off..students are told if they ever hear the alarm, seek shelter in the nearest building. Problem today: Because the cell phone systems were clogged with calls/texts, alot of students didn't get the warning text from the university to evacuate the buildings....all they had to go by was the outdoor alarm so they headed INTO the buildings. Meanwhile, those IN the buildings who DID get the texts were leaving the buildings, confusing the kids who were running INto the buildings.

Granted, everything turned out OK today...but officials still need to get their ducks in a row in case something like this happens for real/again.