<p>[Harvard</a> orders evacuations after unconfirmed reports of explosives - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/us/harvard-evacuations/]Harvard”>http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/us/harvard-evacuations/)</p>
<p>TV said finals cancelled for today…</p>
<p>Found explosives in at least one building.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Harvest Moon Where did you hear that? CNN is saying it appears to be a hoax.</p>
<p>Someone on campus, but I hear bad info is flying everywhere. So who knows.</p>
<p>I wonder what happens with the exams that were taking place at the time of the evacuation. </p>
<p>I also have not read any news accounts stating that explosives have been found.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that they have cancelled finals for the rest of the day. So if it is a hoax, perhaps that was the objective.</p>
<p>Right…but still the evacuation came at a time when some students were in the middle of exams (I don’t mean the exam period but actual exams underway in those buildings that were evacuated) and so I wonder what happens to those particular exams which were not only unfinished, but now the students can talk among themselves, look up what is on the exam, and so forth.</p>
<p>Guess this is where the honor code comes in.</p>
<p>Exams are on for the afternoon.</p>
<p>What I’ve seen is that the report of bombs places is unconfirmed. This has got to stop!</p>
<p>Where does this “abundance of caution” rationale for the security pageant end? Why down have all of Cambridge on lock down by that reasoning? </p>
<p>These outsized reactions only encourage other losers hoping to make a mark on society.</p>
<p>It’s got nothing to do with security and everything to do with the fear of litigation. Even if the outcome is favorable, no school wants to go through the years-long aftermath endured by Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>argbargy, and what would you be saying if the school did not take these evacuation precautions and there was a bomb with injuries/deaths resulting? I’m sure there would be outrage that the school ignored the warnings! I’d rather err on the side of precaution.</p>
<p>Somebody wasn’t ready for his/her final exam? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>When I was in college, I arrived to take a test only to see a sign on the door stating that class was canceled due to the professor’s illness. I shrugged my shoulders and went about my day. Next class, our instructor informed us that he was not sick, that it was a hoax likely perpetuated by someone who didn’t want to take the exam that day. I was amazed at the guts of whoever did the deed and quite annoyed as I had been prepared for the exam that day. But annoying as it was, it didn’t put out the whole school. </p>
<p>This is likely going to cause quite a few problems for many students. I imagine some of them may have to reschedule flights home if the exams get pushed back very far. </p>
<p>People who do this kind of thing really suck.</p>
<p>Where does that “err on the side of caution” end? </p>
<p>People were kept on lock down in Yale for the entire day while the administration trotted out the swat team with riot shields and armored personnel carriers in the “hot zone” and the farce of false “confirmed” sightings piled up. At some point, as much as the administrators like to play General, people have to rebel and say enough is enough, we have lives to get on with.</p>
<p>arg,
Given Boston and Cambridge’s experience with the marathon bombs and subsequent incident with the perpetrators at MIT, it’s understandable that they might still be jumpy and err on the side of caution.</p>
<p>My d works part-time at a Starbucks on Harvard Square (great health benefits for 20 hr/week!). She was at work when this happened today and said a lot of staff and faculty were coming in who were very unhappy, they thought it was somebody trying to get out of finals. Unconfirmed, but that’s what the faculty thought. They were not very happy.</p>
<p>argbargy, just wondering that if you had a child or other family member attending or teaching at the university you would feel the same way?</p>
<p>
As far as I know they still don’t have one, though it’s been in discussion.</p>
<p>Think one is “in the works” after last year’s cheating scandal. They might sign something on finals to the effect that it is their own work.</p>