FYI-University of Texas-Austin-Total campus evacuation due to threats

Parents Forum
1

<p>They are not saying what the threats are but are asking everyone to leave campus.</p>

<p>Emergency</a> Information | The University of Texas at Austin</p>

<p>Sirens are also going off on campus.</p>

2

<p>So scary…</p>

<p>Checked Facebook for info from folks there, but nothing so far.</p>

3

<p>A man saying he’s affiliated with al Qaida says he placed bombs all about the campus, to go off in 90 minutes. The call was made at 8:35, more than 90 minutes ago, so hopefully a hoax.</p>

4

<p>Hard to be Bill Powers at that moment…do I disrupt class and work for thousands of people?</p>

5

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<p>How does he not decided to do that? Better to be safe than to assume it is a hoax and have a building go down filled with students, staff and professors. I see no gray area here. (Disclaimer: Coming from a parent of a UT student)</p>

6

<p>Apparently, the same thing happened at North Dakota State this morning.</p>

7

<p>Happened twice at my HS when there was a big exam…</p>

8

<p>Kids being interviewed keep saying that they realized it wasn’t Wednesday and so it probably wasn’t test-related. Does UT only test on Wednesday or something?</p>

9

<p>Happened at Pitt last spring from February to April almost daily. Very disruptive but the faculty and students toughed it out.</p>

10

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<p>I agree. But there has to be some portion of threats that the police recognize as “11 year old skipping school and prank calling” caliber. I guess if the police say there is any chance of the the call being credible, evacuate.</p>

11

<p>A school in a town where we used to live received repeated bomb threats. The first couple times they evacuated buildings, but not the entire campus. After a while they stopped evacuating and the threats stopped. For these schools to evacuate the entire campus, even students in the residence halls, is somewhat disturbing. Even more so that there are two threats at schools so far apart.</p>

12

<p>@Youdon’tsay – The UT emergency sirens are tested at noon on the first Wednesday of each month. That’s probably what the students were referring to. I work across the street from the campus, so we heard the sirens and saw the kids all walking away from the campus. It’s all very quiet now.</p>

13

<p>If there is no real bomb, prank is one possibility.</p>

<p>Another possibility is that it is to create a distraction so that some other crime can be committed (e.g. theft of something while everyone is evacuated but did not bother to lock the doors behind them).</p>