By Maya Rosenberg
Police deemed the report of a suspicious package at the Mathematics building “all clear” Thursday at 1:09 p.m.
A University of Maryland Police Department (UMPD) alert email sent out to students and staff at 11:37 a.m. instructed recipients to “avoid the area.” Both the Mathematics building (Kirwan Hall) and Glenn L. Martin Hall were evacuated. At 12:08, police sent another update that said “stadium drive between Regents Dr and Paint Branch Dr” was closed to traffic.
PGPD was also on the scene with both ambulances and a bomb squad truck. Helicopters flew overhead. Students were kept on across from Kirwan Hall on the opposite side of Campus Drive.
“We were halfway through the discussion section and all of the sudden there was a flashing light, which was strange,” mathematics graduate student David Pincus said.
Pincus said police directed him and his students out of the back of the math building and said nobody seemed nervous.
“It’s a good thing that there are police here; it shows they care,” said sophomore math and education major Kaitlyn Nash. “But I wish there was more information.”
The scare comes just two days after students erupted in counterprotests in response to a group of religious protestors spouting sexist and hateful language on McKeldin Mall.
UMPD did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.