Although a tornado touched down in Muncie, students on campus didn't seem too concerned about the storm last night.
Students were shuffled to the lowest levels of buildings on campus after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Delaware County. The severe thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud, which touched down shortly after the warning was issued. The warning was lifted about 10 minutes later.
Bracken Library student assistant Sara Koerner said library workers simply followed protocol and there wasn't much urgency among people in the building.
"Patrons were really reluctant to leave their computers," she said. "But it was our job to clear the floors."
Koerner said she heard the tornado sirens go off before her supervisor got a call that everyone needed to go to the basement. They turned on the alert telling students in the library to go to the basement.
Kevin Burke, director of University Communications, said various shelter facilities located on campus and emergency response posters are located at most buildings on campus.
"We do our best to advise students to be prepared for tornado warnings," he said.
Bracken student assistant Dominic Hosack said everyone seemed prepared and calm as they made their way to the basement.
"It didn't take long," he said. "People just slowly got up and moved downstairs by themselves without us having to really direct them."
Hosack and Koerner said everyone seemed relaxed and laid back in the basement. Most people talked to strangers, made jokes, got on their cell phones and gathered around the big screen to watch what was going on outside, they said.
"We changed the channel from the local news to CNN," Hosack said. "We all got excited because it mentioned how a tornado touched down in Muncie."
Freshman orientation leader Carmen Stockberger said all the orientation workers at Woodworth Complex seemed calm as they made their way to the basement.
Sirens in the building went off and everyone headed to the front desk for instructions, she said.
Stockberger said the hall director announced that a tornado had touched down within a five-mile radius of campus, but it didn't have much impact on people.
"The atmosphere was pretty calm," she said. "We were just talking and people joked around. Everyone seemed OK, but people deal with it differently."
Burke said the weather wasn't anything abnormal.
"This is the spring or summer," he said. "This weather is expected at this time of the year, so I don't have any particular reactions to it."
Hosack said the tornado warning and the process of shuffling people downstairs wasn't a big deal and was just something to make the day special.
"It was a nice little break from the norm," he said. "We normally just sit here."
Sharon Hernandez contributed to this story.
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