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October 15, 2001
To: The UCSC Community
From: Chancellor Greenwood
Re: Campus message: Response to letter scare
Colleagues,
Working in the Porter College mail room this morning, an alert staff member of the college observed that an envelope contained granules of an undetermined substance. She reported that the envelope had been addressed to a Porter student.
The employee immediately reported the incident, and our Police, Fire, and Environmental Health & Safety Offices responded quickly to the scene.
We have just learned that this incident resulted from an action intended as a joke between friends; a student has come forward and admitted to placing laundry detergent inside the envelope.
While we now know that the staff member was not exposed to a dangerous substance, I would like you to know how seriously this incident was taken--and also what it took to respond to a threat of this nature:
* The staff member was transported to the Student Health Center for evaluation.
* The matter was reported to the FBI office in San Francisco, and that office dispatched an agent to the scene.
* We contacted other public health agencies to consult with them on appropriate health and safety procedures, including the Director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control at UC San Francisco.
* As a precaution, we shut down the Porter building's ventilation system and evacuated and cordoned off that area of the college.
* We temporarily suspended operations of all student mail services on campus.
* The dining hall at Porter was closed. (It will reopen for dinner tonight.)
I would like to commend the staff member for her swift action in this matter, and I greatly appreciate the quick response of emergency staff personnel. Their collective response is an indication of just how prepared we are for such incidents.
Sincerely,
M.R.C. Greenwood, Chancellor
Maintained by:pioweb@cats.ucsc.edu