Cinco de Mayo celebrations were disrupted Friday when somebody called the University Police Department and said there was a bomb planted in the Cesar Chavez Student Center, causing an evacuation of that building that lasted over an hour.
Once evacuated, a large crowd milled around outside in the cold wind. Some muttered about Oklahoma City and "John Doe number two" connections, but the Cinco de Mayo performance continued outside while a search of the building was conducted. Nothing was found.
Brandy Biehl, a kinesiology junior who had been using a computer in the student center to write a paper, was one of those waiting to get back in. "They (student center staff) wouldn't let me save it," she said. "An eight-page paper! They just told me to leave the building."
"We had no business for two hours," said Carmelina Narciso, the owner of Carmelina La Petite. "We didn't sell any sandwiches."
The bomb threat was made from a campus phone to the UPD at 10:14 a.m. on Friday morning, Lt. Stephen McLain said. The UPD immediately called for an evacuation.
"Given everything that's been going on, we decided to evacuate and search the building for an explosive device," McLain said.
At about 10:30 a.m., UPD officers and student center staff moved crowds away from the building and cordoned off Malcolm X Plaza and the western enclave of the student center. The crowd was allowed to re-enter the building at 11:30 a.m.
The UPD, Environmental Health and Occupational Safety, and the student center staff conducted the evacuation. No outside agencies were called in.
McLain said the caller was a male and the incident is currently under investigation. The UPD confirmed they knew which campus phone was used, but would not disclose the location of that phone.
Since nobody was injured, it would not be a felony charge, but a misdemeanor, if someone were caught, McLain said. The incident is currently under investigation.
Perhaps the largest dilemma imposed by the evacuation was the interruption of morning festivities of La Raza Student Organization's Cinco de Mayo celebration.
At the time, the dance group Alma de Mexico was on a break from their performance in Jack Adams Hall.
When the evacuation began, the student center technical staff moved quickly to set up part of the sound system near the lawn on the eastern side of the building.
Once outside, their red, black, and pink dresses brightened the front of the student center as the dancers performed for a crowd of hundreds which had gathered around them.
Alejandro Rios, one of the coordinators of the event, said, "It's very disappointing that it happened on Cinco de Mayo, it's too much coincidence."
One year ago, to the day, of Friday's bomb threat, the student union was renamed The Cesar Chavez Student Center in honor of the late labor leader.
"If the intent was to destroy our festivities, it didn't work. We didn't let it happen," Rios said.
According to Rios, after the alarm sounded, everything happened so quickly that an audio tape with a portion of a soundtrack and some of their dresses for a specific performance were left in the building. But it didn't seem to matter to the dancers or the audience.
When the Alma de Mexico performance ended, the floor was open to everyone. Students filled the void quickly as they danced to the music.
"The technical service staff were brilliant in moving the equipment out onto the lawn," said Mary Keller, the programs services manager for the student center.
Keller, who has been working in the center for 15 years, said this was the second time she has witnessed a bomb threat evacuation in that building.
"This one went really well," Keller said, "Students helped each other out." She said there were no problems during the evacuation.
Renita Sandosham and Audrey Wong contributed to this article.