The Bryan Center was closed for several hours Saturday, while police officials investigated a bomb threat.
At approximately 9:30 a.m., two anonymous calls were made to McDonald’s and the Gothic Bookshop, claiming that there was a bomb somewhere in the Bryan Center, said Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for administration and emergency response coordinator. The calls were immediately reported to the Duke University Police Department. After a thorough search, police officials confirmed that the building was safe.
“Everyone responded really well and behaved very professionally,” Cavanaugh said. “Everyone believed this was a prank or a hoax, but we have to take each one of these seriously.”
Soon after DUPD learned of the threat, officers dispatched to the Bryan Center to evacuate the building and secure its perimeters. Cavanaugh noted that about 100 students, employees and visitors were evacuated in approximately 15 minutes. The Bryan Center was reopened at approximately 1:20 p.m.
Cavanaugh said DUPD collaborated with the Durham Police Department and the Raleigh Police Department for the search. Raleigh Police used a bomb-sniffing dog.
DUPD is conducting an ongoing investigation to trace the origins of the anonymous calls, Cavanaugh said. He added that he could not comment on the current state of the investigation, but noted that if the police succeed in finding the caller, it could result in criminal prosecution.
“It is being aggressively investigated,” Cavanaugh said. “The police do have some leads in the investigation.”
Although she was out of town at the time, Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek sent two emails to the student body—one informing students of the initial threat and the other letting them know the Bryan Center had been reopened. She said she was pleased with the way the University handled the situation.
“My sense was that [the bomb threat] did not unnerve or upset students in any way,” Wasiolek said. “In the future, we should do exactly what we did in this case—handling it calmly and openly and honestly.”
Linda Franzoni, associate dean for undergraduate education at the Pratt School of Engineering, was giving a presentation in Griffith Film Theater in the Bryan Center when police evacuated the building. Franzoni said someone came into the room around 10:15 a.m. to evacuate the large group of prospective Pratt students and their parents, saying there was believed to be a gas leak in the Bryan Center.
Franzoni said she thought the threat was handled well, noting that there was no sense of panic. The high school students and their parents did not even ask further questions about the evacuation, she added.
The threat was not disruptive to campus life, even though the Bryan Center was closed, freshman Alexandra Smith said. She said she tried to go to the Bryan Center Saturday morning, but a guard standing in front told her there was an inspection going on. Smith thought it was a health inspection or something similar, she noted, adding that the vague explanation helped prevent any panic.
“I was kind of surprised that he just told me it was an inspection,” Smith said. “But it was right of them not to tell us it was a bomb.... But I wasn’t that worried because it’s really safe here.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.