Angry student comments about the confusion caused by a false "armed assailant" alarm that went off in Bracken Library on Sunday have reached the Dean of University Libraries Arthur Hafner.
The alarm went off when a library staff member accidently moved the armed assailant button while trying to fix a connection that was loose, Hafner said.
"He didn't know it was the button that sent the armed intruder alarm," he said.
University Police responded to the alarm, sending police officers to surround the area from which the alarm was set off. After a few minutes, staff members at the library told everyone it was a false alarm.
When the alarm went off, many students did not know what to do, graduate student Kory Carey said.
"[Everyone in the library] started looking at each other and started running around," she said. "A guy told us to go to the bathroom and some took chairs to bar the doors."
Carey said once in the bathroom some people started making phone calls and sending text messages. They were not told it was a false alarm for about seven minutes, she said.
Senior sports administration major Matt Wells heard the all clear before Carey. He said he was on the second floor when the alarm went off, and some of the library staff members yelled that it was a false alarm.
"I think [the library staff members] were confused like everyone else," he said. "It was just random and weird."
In his e-mail, Hafner said he apologized "for any inconvenience or fear [the false alarm] may have created."
"We have this system in the library, which is wonderful, but the darn thing went off and scared the bejesus out of everyone," he said. "I feel terrible that this happened."
Hafner said the library will be working to train its staff members to be able to handle similar situations in the future.
But the effects of the false alarm may have had a strong effect on some of the people in the library at the time. Carey said the false alarm had a negative impact on some of her friends.
"A friend called a few hours after and she was very upset," she said.
The alarm left many students confused about whether there had been an actual armed individual around the library because many left before the all clear was given, Wells said.
"I didn't get a text message or an e-mail about what had actually happened until [Monday]," he said. "I think they should have notified everyone, because everybody was leaving without knowing what was going on."
Carey said the false alarm Sunday could be an opportunity to talk about having staff members trained to respond to these situations.
Students can go Ball State's website to learn the guidelines for responding to an active shooter situation on campus and what to expect from responding officers.
For information on what to do in this type of emergency, go to cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/EmergencyPrepared/Guidelines/Violence/ActiveShooter.aspx
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