J-School without evacuation policy
Published Feb. 3, 2006
The School of Journalism has no specific evacuation plan for bomb threats. And this past week, when a bomb threat occurred at the school, the lack of a plan left some people still inside the school's buildings.
"I've been here for 32 years and we've never had a bomb threat before," Associate Dean of Journalism Brian Brooks said.
Brooks confirmed that as of press time, the journalism school had yet to finalize an evacuation procedure.
The School of Journalism had no plan, he said, because none has been needed before.
Brooks said though journalism school officials tried to alert everyone about the bomb threat, some people were missed and remained in the school's buildings.
"The evacuation was a little haphazard, but we've been working to improve the plans all week," said Pat Cloyd, Gannett Hall building coordinator. Cloyd said she helped evacuate the buildings after the threat.
As building coordinator, Cloyd serves as link between the people in the building and the university and its services, such as the MU Police Department.
Cloyd said her first concern was getting everyone out of the building, and she personally walked through the halls to make sure people left Neff and Gannett halls. She said she could have used the fire alarm to evacuate the buildings, but said she "probably just didn't think about it."
"We are implementing new procedures, and the fire alarm is one of them," she said.
MU Police Capt. Brian Weimer said officers would work with the building coordinators to determine whether a building should be evacuated and how the evacuation should occur. He said building coordinators can use fire alarms and other means to get people out.
Journalism professor Charles Davis was in the building at the time of the threat.
"Everyone thought they were joking," he said. "It was kind of like a social hour outside, everyone knew we weren't going back in for a while so we all just kind of fell into conversation."
Brooks said MU police called his office to alert him about the threat and asked that he evacuate Gannett and Neff halls.
Davis said an assistant in his office, Kristin Hogan, was the one who answered the threatening call. Police told her they were on their way, and Davis and Hogan alerted the main office in Gannett Hall about the threat. Within five minutes, Davis said Brooks alerted them that there was a bomb threat and that they would have to leave the building.
Brooks said as far as he knew, police officers kept everyone out of the buildings for roughly 45 minutes, as they searched for the alleged bomb in the building.
Police did not keep students and faculty from going in and out of the building during the bomb search, prompting other safety concerns.
Brooks said if the event occurs again, officials will use fire alarms to evacuate the buildings, because the "maze of rooms and offices" in the school makes it very difficult to notify everyone of an evacuation.
Brooks said the School of Journalism personnel didn't know if they could use the fire alarms on Friday, but that the police have since told school officials that they are permitted to use the fire alarm system in a bomb-threat situation.