<p>Does anyone know what is going on with the evacuation (bomb threat?) at Russell?</p>
<p>The students were evacuated from Russell then allowed back in while keeping the dining hall closed (somewhere around 5PM).</p>
<p>They were evacuated a second time and a little while later so was the rest of the East Campus. </p>
<p>According to campus Police (about 9:15pm), additional law enforcement has been called in.</p>
<p>The Morris library will remain open with security present until the situation is resolved.</p>
<p>Thanks NJmom - they just let them back. Do you know what happened?</p>
<p>So far, pretty unhappy with how this was handled. My D was working in the Russell dining hall and was evacuated with the other employees. She never received a text alert. Her friends in the dorm were just sent out, with a suggestion to go get dinner on Main St, but no real plan for finding out the status of the situation. Eventually my D was released by her work supervisor and she went to meet her friends. She said her friends with smart phones received an email well after the evacuation … but is UD assuming all students either have a smart phone or were sitting at their computers? A second email went out hours after the evacuation and suggested students find a friend to stay over with … that was fine for my D, but was there no backup plan for students who might not have had such an option? And we never received an emergency notification at home, nothing was posted online, etc. At this point, I’m not that impressed.</p>
<p>Just contacted my S who has a smart phone, he heard via word of mouth, and e-mail. He never received a text or voice mail. I’m with Momof2giants - not impressed. The emergency notification system did not work as advertised.</p>
<p>momof2, I couldn’t agree with you more! In addition they did not receive an email that they could return to their dorms! </p>
<p>I could not find a phone number for President Harker so I’ve left a messages at random offices and will call back on Monday. I have already told the public safety office what I think of their lack of communication! </p>
<p>Iamthisclose to calling the local television and radio stations!</p>
<p>update: my dd received an email at 11:02PM from public safety that they could return to their dorm rooms as of 10PM…(when I called public safety at 10:37PM they had yet to send any emails…whose a__ are they trying to cover!)</p>
<p>BTW, my dd is being told this was a real threat and not a hoax. Has anyone else heard that?</p>
<p>njmom - my daughter hadn’t heard anything and lives in Russell as well. It makes sense that it could have been real since it took so long and they evacuated twice and they apparently wanted to keep this quiet since there was basically no communication (except an email warning of an unspecified threat). But, there was nothing on the news…nothing anywhere. If it was a real credible threat, did they find anything? Should we be worrying? Are they going to tell anyone anything? Did anyone try contacting the Newark Police for details?</p>
<p>njmom52 - Just contacted the Office of Campus and Public Safety myself, and was told that it was a failure of the Office of Communication, and that I should address my concerns with them. No answers, just excuses and passing the buck.</p>
<p>Traye25, did they tell you what happened? Was this real? Did they find anything? I’m concerned and I think this lack of communication is ridiculous. A hoax is one thing but to hear different is alarming.</p>
<p>daybreak - she did not tell me whether it was legit or not. Only when and where the evacuations took place, when it was deemed safe to return, and who I should contact to complain. She would not verify if hoax or legit.</p>
<p>Traye25 - How ridiculous. They don’t think that the students (and parents) have a right to know what the heck is going on in the building where they live? How in the world is this acceptable to anyone? I can’t believe after 5 hours they can’t utter a word.</p>
<p>daybreak - Apparently not. I’m disgusted with their failure to notify the students. This is not at all what was described to us during Accepted Students Day, NSO, and our other visits. </p>
<p>My S has no new news besides, that according to scuttlebutt, it was a hoax - but who knows?</p>
<p>Nothing in email or available online to parents this a.m. (at least not to me). Totally unacceptable. We all need to complain about this … loudly, and to numerous parties. I will check with D a bit later … but I’m guessing nothing was told to the students who, as stated, have a right to know and some of whom may have been anxious last night and in need of some further information for that reason as well.</p>
<p>Here’s the story just out in the UDaily:</p>
<p>[Freshman</a> arrested after bomb threat forces evacuation of Russell Complex](<a href=“http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/mar/arrest031112.html]Freshman”>Freshman arrested after bomb threat forces evacuation of Russell Complex)</p>
<p>I texted my DD last night after reading this thread (probably around 10:30 - 11 pm); she said they did get an email about it (but we didn’t) and said that students had already been allowed back into Russell; she’s on Laird campus though so didn’t have details.</p>
<p>Oh boy…the last paragraph of the UD crime alert really set me off!!! </p>
<p>Emails were at 6:30, 7:45 and they claim 10PM (my dd rec’d at 11:02PM) and when I called campus police at 10:37PM, I was told they were putting together the email to return to their dorms. I believe the 6:30 email was the 2nd Russell evac and the 7:45 email was the East Campus evac (awaiting copies from my dd).</p>
<p>There was no email instructing the kids that the Library would be open with security until Russell reopened, I told my dd with info I obtained from the police. When she got to the library it was dark and locked (after 10PM, before 10:37PM) and she had not yet received an email that the dorms were reopened.</p>
<p>I don’t need to know Police business, I trust they know what they are doing. If they felt the UD alert system was not warranted, I’m okay with that (at the moment). However, communication with the students was dismal at best! If you were in the library, you knew you were able to go back to your dorm…my dd was not in the library.</p>
<p>If others received the email at 10PM, then UDel needs to explain why my daughter and her friends did not get it until 11:02PM!!</p>
<p>No clue why they didn’t utilize text messaging / voicemail along with email, and did not include parents on the communication. I’m sure that would have reduced a lot of the confusion. Moreover, the students were told nothing after the fact, and did not have the opportunity to be reassured the caller had been arrested, etc. My D says she gets a UD alert if there is a streaker on campus … why not when there is a bomb threat in her campus home? We are going to be making calls today, and I encourage others to do the same. Although not the responsibility of the honors program (all Russell students are in honors), we are going to include them on the list of calls, so they are aware of how this was handled.</p>
<p>You all need to take a step back and rethink this.</p>
<p>There are roughly 16000 students at UD, probably closer to 50,000 people subscribed to UD Alerts. There were less than 1,000 people affected by this evacuation and those who needed to be evacuated were evacuated effectively and safely without the use of UD Alert. Sending out a message about a bomb threat to 50,000 people would create unnecessary panic. You would have students worrying and leaving town for absolutely no reason. There was no reason for anyone to be concerned other than the 1,000 individuals who were evacuated and effectively notified. How many of you would have gotten into a car right away to pick up your children at UD? This is what they were trying to avoid, once everyone was evacuated, they were safe and thus no reason to be further concerned.</p>
<p>The important thing is that the evacuation was done successfully and that no one was hurt. If you are in the real world and lived in a large apartment building and a bomb threat was made on it, would you expect the police to call you when the threat has been resolved to let you know it is safe to return to your home? No and you shouldn’t expect that from the UD Police either,</p>
<p>UPDATE:</p>
<p>Just received a phone call and lengthy explaination of steps taken Saturday evening. The time of the last email is the only issue I have and that will be looked into. </p>
<p>I was very impressed with Delaware’s prompt response to my concerns 
and am very confident that my daughter is in good hands!</p>