Even the most apathetic amongst the Carnegie Mellon community would have heard of the numerous bomb threats delivered anonymously via email over the past few weeks. These have resulted in the evacuation and thorough search of various campus buildings such as the Mellon Institute and Doherty Hall on August 24. Like many others, I assumed that the first threat was just a hoax and thought nothing more of it. However, three threats delivered one after another in such a short period of time, cannot be discounted as being a part of something more dangerous.

In his email message to Carnegie Mellon's community on September 11, 2007, President Jared L. Cohon mentioned that, "Carnegie Mellon is one of a dozen or so universities that have received similar threats." In fact it was exactly thirteen other universities that also received such threats. These were Clemson, Akron, the University of Alaska-Anchorage, Cornell, Iowa, MIT, Middle Tennessee State, New Hampshire, Oregon State, Princeton, Western Illinois, and William and Mary. I found this to be a disturbing and even slightly shocking announcement. I am still far from being concerned about my physical safety, but I was perturbed for a somewhat selfish, perhaps lame reason

Ever since 9/11, people around the world have become accustomed to turning on the TV, flipping to a news channel and seeing a breaking story  about a dangerous terrorist organization, bomb threats real or imagined, and the war on terror. I know that I don't just speak for myself when I state frankly that during the school year I have no more than a passing interest in such issues. The only time I'm really worried about bomb threats is when I'm at the airport, and then only because a bomb threat might lead to my flight being cancelled (the pathos of someone finding out their flight's been cancelled would make Byron cry like a little girl). I usually leave behind all things connected to the 'real world' at the Pittsburgh airport's baggage claim area.

In my view of things, Carnegie Mellon is its own domain set apart from the previously mentioned 'real world'. It's the last haven where I can still truly be called a student. I'm not the greatest fan of being a student, but one advantage that the 'student' label carries is that governance, economy, etc. are still Adult Folk worries. I don't have to worry about putting food on the table, only whether I should have dinner at Subway or Lulu's. I don't have a boss or someone trying to steal the promotion that I've had my eye on; as long as I don't procrastinate I'll get the grades I need. And until now, I haven't had to worry about terrorism.

This bomb threat business, whether just some punk's idea of a having a few laughs or something more ominous, is changing all that. Although I'd normally criticize my own indifference, as well as that of my peers, it's sad that with the current conditions we can no longer afford to be completely carefree.

On a more positive note, it was great to see a whole paragraph in President Cohon's message devoted to the new AlertNow system. This emergency phone alert system was started in response to the Virginia Tech massacre that happened earlier this year. The Virginia Tech administrators were slow and unprepared on that day, which left much of the Tech community unaware of the ongoing incident and therefore in considerable peril. After that shocking and sad day, many universities around the country (like CMU) realized that while they might not be able to preemptively spot a gunman within their population, they need to have a firewall of sorts to provide at least some protection to the community.

I think AlertNow is a great service and has already begun performing admirably. Even though the administration would probably be able to reach most of the community through email (there's no point denying it, we all spend a sizable fraction of our day checking our mail), a message left on the phone is quicker and just makes more sense. It is an optional service, but I recommend you sign up for it unless you don't have a working cell phone. The link is: https://my.cmu.edu/site/main/page.alert.

President Cohon also talked at length about the water mains breakage that affected the Oakland area on August 30.  I've purposely relegated this issue to a side note because I don't think it was a very big deal. It was annoyingly inconvenient, but it was no one's fault - the pipe burst of its own volition. In my opinion, the authorities handled it exceptionally well. The aforementioned AlertNow system was used to great effect and helped get the word around campus. Port-a-potties were placed at strategic places around campus within a couple of hours of the alert. Water pressure was restored later that night, but even then the powers that be were vigilant and issued an advisory warning people that the recently restored water might contain harmful bacteria and that people should refrain from ingesting tap water until the results of lab tests conducted on the water came back. I was also pleased that free jugs of water were handed out the next day outside the UC. All these actions point to a caring administration, despite complaints to the contrary.

 talkback to the pulse