MU has evacuation plan
An MU spokesman said the building coordinator was new to the evacuation plan.
Published Feb. 7, 2006
The School of Journalism had a plan in place to evacuate the building in the event of a bomb threat such as the threat made on Jan. 27, but an MU spokesman said miscommunication kept this plan from being implemented properly.
Christian Basi, a spokesman for the university, said when the bomb threat was called in to Gannett Hall, the building was in the process of getting a new building coordinator. The information in the evacuation plan for the building "was still being transferred" to the new coordinator when the threat occurred, Basi said.
Bomb threat calls were received at Gannett and Gwynn halls on Jan. 27 and the buildings were evacuated. Stanley Hall also was evacuated because it's connected to Gwynn Hall.
All buildings on the MU campus have an emergency preparedness plan, Basi said.
The university also has a campus emergency plan that applies to the entire campus.
Basi said all building coordinators meet with the Environmental Health and Safety Department twice per year to evaluate emergency plans and procedures for each building on campus. He said the university does not directly tell coordinators what their plan should be, but the building coordinators are given a template from which to work.
"We're going to allow people to customize the plans for their own building," he said.
Basi also said officials in the School of Journalism are updating their emergency plans and when building coordinators change their emergency plan, they are expected to bring it back to the Environmental Health and Safety Department for review.
Teresa Howard, building coordinator for Gwynn and Stanley halls, said that when the bomb threat was called in on Jan. 27, she was out of the building, but Stephen R. Jorgensen, dean of the College of Human Environmental Sciences, did an "outstanding job" of getting the facility evacuated. She said there were existing procedures in place in Gwynn Hall for evacuation in an emergency.
Howard said the Gwynn Hall plans had been in place for more than 20 years, and the plans had been updated to be applicable in the event of a terrorist attack after Sept. 11, 2001.
The emergency plan for Gwynn and Stanley halls states, "In the event of a bomb threat, occupants follow the same procedures as for a fire, using the phone chain and evacuation stairways, leaving the buildings entirely and gathering to either the north or south of each building at a safe distance. In the event of a fire or bomb threat, secure your belongings and leave the building as instructed above."
Howard said her office is working to make sure everyone in the building will have a copy of the emergency plan on hand.
Megan Baroska, a spokeswoman for the College of Education, said the college's emergency escape plan is in accordance with local and university policy. In an emergency situation, she said administrators in the college, which uses Townsend and Hill halls, would assess the situation and decide what to do according to that plan.
Jim Bixby, the building coordinator of the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Building, said the Life Sciences Building emergency plan is changing and being updated constantly.
He said he was not aware of the bomb threat to the School of Journalism and Gwynn Hall, and he was not sure if his building's emergency plans contained a specific reference to a bomb threat.
"I'll certainly be adding that in," Bixby said.