Campus in shambles

Oct 04 2011, Written by Michael Lee in News, 0 Comments

Forget 2012—it seems that the doomsday has descended upon Duke University early.

Okay, so that might be some sensationalism. But there have been an eerie string of mildly apocalyptic events here on campus. It started with the earthquake that greeted freshmen before move-in day. A hurricane graced campus and a tornado warning shortly followed. Giles combusted last month, along with a C-2 bus. And most recently, a bomb threat was called in at the Bryan Center.

The use of a bomb-sniffing dog by the Raleigh Police Department quickly showed the threat to be baseless, but a suspect has not yet been found by the Duke University Police Department, which is currently conducting an active criminal investigation.

“We are optimistic about finding a suspect,” said Duke Police Chief John Dailey. “But it’s premature to really speculate for me [about the intentions of the caller].”

The bomb threat was largely put off as a hoax or prank by students, but Dailey maintained that the incident was still under investigation. He declined to comment directly on the DUPD’s progress due to the active nature of the investigation.

Bomb threats are not new to Duke’s campus, said Dailey. “I don’t know the exact statistics right off, but there have definitely been bomb threats over the history of Duke.”

In any case, the thoughts of the caller are difficult to gauge. Of all the places to threaten, under what conditions would the colossally underwhelming Bryan Center—the venerable, monochromatic home to McDonalds, ATM machines and introductory economics lectures—become an alluring target?

Although the frequency of these events struck some as strange, students were largely unfazed by these recent incidents and regarded them sardonically.

“I think it’s all blown out of proportion,” said Gaurav Albal, a freshman. “The bomb threat turned out to be nothing. The bus just started smoking, and I’m not sure the tornado did anything. And, the hurricane turned out to be more of a drizzle.”

Albal was not alone in his critically realistic outlook.

“I didn’t even know about the hurricane until it passed,” said Tiffany Dong, a freshman. “In regards to the whole bus explosion incident, I hope that means we’ll get new buses.”

Other students, however, seem to find the headliner events contributing factors to the overall thrilling nature of their lives. They seem willing to sacrifice safety in the name of fighting boredom and mundaneness.

“Danger is my middle name,” said Harrison Richard. “Since it’s my middle name, I live every day like I’m grabbing the bull by the horns. An imminent death is the spice on my pizza. Nothing to be too scared of, but every once in a while you might get the roof of your mouth burnt.”