Hundreds of UF students, faculty and staff were forced outside during stormy weather Tuesday after the Florida Gym was evacuated due to a bomb threat and Library West was cleared out because of a plumbing problem.
The Florida Gym was reopened after two hours, and Library West was closed for the night. At press time, it was unknown if the library would open today.
Jeff Holcomb, University Police Department spokesman, said a male caller told an Alachua County's 911 dispatcher around 2 p.m. that a bomb would go off in the Florida Gym and then hung up.
UPD didn't send emergency text-messages to students because the threat was confined to one building, Holcomb said.
He said 11 officers were on the scene by 2:08 p.m.
They evacuated the Florida Gym, blocked off Stadium Road and searched the building for suspicious materials. Nothing was found, he said.
UPD tracked the call to an off-campus pay phone, but there was no one at the phone when investigators arrived, Holcomb said. There are no suspects.
He said Regional Transit System buses were rerouted. UPD kept everyone about 100 feet away from the Florida Gym during the search.
A police dog named Gator also searched the building. After Gator cleared the common areas, faculty were allowed back inside around 4 p.m. to search their offices for any suspicious items.
Holcomb said it was safe for faculty members to enter the building at that time because their offices were more secure than common areas, so there was a slim chance a bomb could have been planted there.
He said students were allowed in at 4:17 p.m.
Steve Orlando, UF spokesman, said bomb threats during midterms were common in the 1990s as a way for students to avoid exams.
Orlando said he wasn't sure if midterms motivated Tuesday's threat.
Stacey Wroble, a history junior, said she had been in her religion class in the Florida Gym for about 10 minutes when a voice on a loudspeaker told occupants they needed to exit the building.
She said students filed downstairs and huddled in the lobby to avoid the rain, but officers told them to wait across the street.
Wroble said no one seemed worried, and no one asked the police any questions.
"I feel like I was the only person who was freaked out," she said. "I started thinking of Columbine. Those kids were having just a normal day like I was."
Danielle Dennis, an advertising junior, also said most students seemed calm. After waiting outside for 10 minutes, Dennis said she went to a meeting in Weimer Hall and then to Library West.
But a half hour after she settled in to study at the library, another announcement ordered occupants to evacuate within 15 minutes.
Dennis said she saw a puddle less than an inch deep leaking from the bathrooms near the second-floor elevators before she left the library.
Jim Stevens, circulation department supervisor, said library officials were notified at about 4 p.m. that bathrooms on all floors of the building's west side were leaking.
Stevens said students were asked to leave just before 5 p.m., and the building was closed for the rest of Tuesday.
Bill Covey, interim director for UF library support services, wrote in an e-mail that backed-up sewage lines caused overflows in the bathrooms, making them unusable. Covey said he wasn't sure how much it would cost to fix the damages.
But, explanation or not, Dennis and other students said they found it hard to muster enthusiasm to study after being interrupted by the evacuations.
"I was kicked out of two buildings in one day," Dennis said. "At least it's not raining now."
