Sophomore Colin Stewart awoke to a loud knocking on his door. Still in his boxers, he walked into the common room on his Wren Hall suite to find police officers hovering over a pile of white powder on the floor.
"There was police tape all around the common room," Stewart said of last Tuesday's incident. "I had no idea what was going on."
What was going on was a police response to a call like hundreds of others occurring across the country over the past two weeks. A custodian had found white powder on the floor of the suite, and fearing the substance might be anthrax, had phoned the police.
But Stewart and the officers, including TUPD Captain Mark Keith, soon identified the powder as Stewart's Gold Bond medicated foot powder. King said that the police response was appropriate.
"They took a little time to evaluate, instead of going with a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "We were able to resolve the issue without any unnecessary disruption to the residents of Wren Hall. I thought it was a little ridiculous that the 510 suite of Wren was considered a viable terrorist target. But better safe than sorry."
As concerns about anthrax spread across the country, Tufts officials are taking precautions by informing students about the disease and providing free rubber gloves to the community. The Department of Public Safety sent a safety advisory e-mail to on-campus students last Wednesday. According to Director John King, the department was "receiving some calls from members of the community asking for guidance."
"We felt it would be prudent for the University to issue guidance to its community," he said.
Anthrax, which has recently claimed the lives of three people and infected at least nine others nationwide, can infect the skin, gastrointestinal system, or the lungs through contact with bruised skin, ingestion, or inhalation. Inhaled anthrax is the most dangerous, although no forms of the disease are contagious. The disease can be prevented with antibiotics or treated effectively soon after exposure.
The University's advisory gave instructions on handling potential anthrax threats, such as not opening suspicious mail and how to react to a possible anthrax presence.
In New York, Washington, DC, and Florida, investigators have discovered several cases in which the disease was sent in envelopes through the mail, prompting the US Postal Service to provide rubber gloves to its employees. At Tufts, rubber gloves were recently sent to the Hill Hall mailroom, but according to one student who works there, none of the workers are using them.
Public Safety has given away 100 additional pairs of rubber gloves to students and faculty for opening mail.
"We have sent to all the mail outlets a copy of the advisory from the center of disease control and a copy of the advisory from the US Postal Service," King said.
Besides sending the e-mail and the advisories, public safety has been preparing for an anthrax-related crisis. "I have talked with the supervisors of all our departments on all of our campuses," King said.
TUPD has been trained in dealing with possible anthrax cases. Officers were instructed to collect information before arriving at the scene and to carefully evaluate the circumstances. If presented with a legitimate concern, officers will contact the local fire department, which would then contact the local government Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (HAZMAT).
Some students were grateful for the advisory. "It gave information in a clean way - it was easy to understand," said sophomore Karyn Blaser, who forwarded the advisory to her father.
But freshman Melissa Ventura felt the advisory exaggerated any possible threats to campus. "I was surprised when I got it," she said. "It made it seem like there is more of threat here than I had thought."
Other students say that those in prominent positions - not college students - should be concerned. "Let's just say I'm not too worried, because I'm not a senator or the head of CBS, so I don't think I'll get [anthrax]," freshman Leah Knobler said.
Although sophomore Adam Stahl said he probably would not be targeted for an anthrax attack, he still plans on taking precautions with mail. "With our current level of paranoia, if I received an unmarked envelope, I'd be sketched out," he said, though he added, "if people would just stop and think logically about the situation, they'd realize there's no danger."
A public safety official has also been in contact with the Boston and Medford postal offices. Although the police and the public safety department have taken several precautions, King said that the Tufts community should not overreact.
"All of our community members need to be aware of the facts and exercise good judgment and take precautions," he said. "It is too easy to panic, and there is no need for panic."
Links to the Centers for Disease Control, the US Postal Service, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health were also included in the advisory and are now available on the Tufts University Department of Public and Environmental Safety website at www.tufts.edu/central/pubsafe.
"We ask the community to stay calm and be aware," King said.
