CruzAlert: Campus entrance closed Thursday morning as a precaution; reopened after several hours

To: UCSC Community

From: UCSC Public Affairs

A suspicious object, observed in a stormwater drain near the main entrance to campus earlier today (Thursday, May 21), resulted in the closure of that entrance and the temporary evacuation of selected campus buildings in the immediate vicinity.

Santa Cruz City Police subsequently determined that the object was not a threat to safety, and they believe it was placed there by someone playing an online game called Geocaching.

As of 12:15 p.m., the main entrance reopened to traffic. The West Entrance to campus remained open throughout the incident.

To transmit information about this incident, the campus employed its CruzAlert emergency notification system; text, email, and voice messages were sent to all students, faculty, and staff who have provided cell phone and other contact information to that system.

If members of the UCSC community have not done so, they are encouraged to go to the CruzAlert web site and provide contact information so they can receive real-time emergency alerts in the future.