1st lecture

If the first day of class gives any insight to what the term may be like, there is one word that could describe the upcoming months: surprising.

The first surprise was that the Biochemistry department has a new interim-director: Dr. Davidson. The second surprise came mid-way through his orientation lecture. The Charter Hall fire alarms suddenly went off. What was most amusing was the lack of response the student body and professors in attendance displayed to the extremely loud alarm. There was a shocked gasp in the crowd immediately following the first burst of shrill noise, but after that there was only a moderate level of chatter among the students. We all sat in the lecture hall for approximately 5 minutes, waiting for someone to silence the noise and allow us to resume our lectures. Then Dr. Davidson's voice came across the lecture speakers informing us that we were to evacuate the building as "...we have no idea what is going on." All 400+ students filed out the doors into the steamy midday sun and stood around for the next 15 minutes.

We were allowed back into the lecture hall, Dr. Davidson took up where he left off, and the remainder of the presentation went off without a hitch.

As we were returning to the hall, I did witness Dr. Martin examine one of the fire-alarm pull devices and comment that it lacked a dye pack and say with some humor that any student could come by and set off the alarms without having any way to identify who it was.
(Please note, this posting is not intended to encourage any student to take such actions as the student body would not view such behavior with any favor).

What amused me the most was the total lack of response, fear or alertness most all the students displayed to this fire alarm. Perhaps it is partially due to the nature of such noises on campus. For example, our room in SD 6 can hear fire alarms going off in other rooms at all hours of the day, with great frequency. Perhaps I'll keep a tally some day (or hour) while I'm studying. Then again, perhaps I'll keep my focus on my books.