UT president says evacuation order was timely

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Published: 9/14/2012 10:06 am

Updated: 9/14/2012 5:56 pm

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The University of Texas at Austin president says evacuating campus buildings 15 minutes before a bomb threat was to be executed left enough time for students and staff to get to safety.

School President Bill Powers said everyone was safe about 10 minutes after the evacuation order was given at 9:50 a.m. Friday. The order to clear campus buildings came 75 minutes after authorities say the threatening call was made.

A university spokeswoman says a man claiming to be affiliated with al-Qaida said he had placed bombs all over the 50,000-student campus and that they would detonate in 90 minutes.

Powers says officials couldn't determine the credibility of the threat before deciding the "prudent thing" was to clear all buildings. Authorities say they were searching for bombs in the meantime.

UT Austin campus reopening after threat, classes cancelled for the day

(KXAN)

JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The University of Texas says all university buildings have been cleared and are reopening after a bomb threat prompted an evacuation of the Austin campus.

The university posted on its website that all classes have been canceled for the remainder of the day Friday but other university activities will resume by 5 p.m.

The school had issued an alert shortly before 10 a.m. Friday telling people to immediately evacuate all campus buildings and "get as far away as possible" after the school received a phoned-in bomb threat.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CLICK HERE to view Emergency Information on the UT Austin website.

UT Austin Emergency Alerts

CLICK HERE for the latest information on the UT Austin website.

September 14, 2012 11:46 am by jhj485

Classes on the Main university campus are cancelled for the remainder of Friday, September 14, 2012. University buildings may be re-entered effective noon today. All University activities except for scheduled classes will resume at 5:00 pm this date.

September 14, 2012 11:25 am by jhj485

The University is still under emergency conditions. Please remain away from buildings. As additional information becomes available it will be updated on this site.

September 14, 2012 9:53 am by clatham

Evacuation due to threats on campus. Immediately evacuate ALL buildings and get as far away as possible. More information to come.

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Javelina - 9/15/2012 10:11 AM

1 Vote

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Speaking of the topic of terrorism and those closely affiliated with it. Know what the most common name for male infants is in Great Britain? Answer: Mohommed Second most common name: Harry............so, what this tells me is that this swarm of "locusts" is encompassing all of Europe. They are the source of most terrorism today. Period. I am not pulling punches for the sake of being P.C. Don't like this statement......move on to your beloved Muslim world! I am really fed up with all of the B.S. we are having to put up with along these lines.

FreeHole - 9/14/2012 3:04 PM

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Since there were at least two other universities in the US with the same phone threat, seems to me it's part of the backlash generated by the 4th rate movie Innocence of Muslims. Go figure.

GoGo1971 - 9/14/2012 2:13 PM

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OK, who didn't want to take their test?

camidawg - 9/14/2012 12:03 PM

3 Votes

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It's a typo. Call came in at 8:35. Bldgs were cleared by 10:04. Big campus. Unfortunatly, it takes that much time when done in a quiet and orderly fashion. No one was hurt. There was no panic of everyone trying to run into the streets at the same time and pushing over each other. From the beginning UT Comm felt there was an essence of it being a hoax because of the nature of the phone call. But, all calls are taken seriously. So, there you go.

TeaAm - 9/14/2012 11:55 AM

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And who do we have to thank for this, the failed Obama foreign policy. Thank god for Texans who always do a great job defending themselves. Obama is cluecless to the danger his allies in the Muslim world pose on Americans. A hoax is not far from the real thing. Stay alert & take care. God bless

Doc Hayworth - 9/14/2012 11:28 AM

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Glad to see evacuations went as planned, but for the call to come in at 8:35am with a 90 minute warning, it seems that they waited over an hour to send out the evacuation order?

camidawg - 9/14/2012 10:49 AM

2 Votes

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This was a hoax. Someone getting their jollies off of making an entire campus go into panic mode. Oh Cami, how would you know? Um, because I work for a State Agency that would be the first responders...We actually do all work in between scanning the news sites for interesting stories.

SpicyLane - 9/14/2012 10:31 AM

2 Votes

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Way to go Longhorn Emergency Communication Office. Lord I hope this is just a hoax.

PeekABoo - 9/14/2012 10:24 AM

0 Votes

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Kudos to UT Austin's Business Continuity/Emergency Management dept for appearing to respond to this quickly and take care of the students, faculty and staff!! STAY SAFE, UTers!!

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