Pitt professors attempt to adapt classes for bomb threats

Professor John Barroso scheduled an exam for his 11 a.m. statistics class on March 30.

But… Professor John Barroso scheduled an exam for his 11 a.m. statistics class on March 30.

But his plans quickly changed when he walked up to the Cathedral of Learning that day to see police officers blocking all entrances to the building.

Barroso had to cancel the class, which runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for the third time this semester because of the bomb threats.

“The threats take away valuable time forever,” Barroso said.

Rushing to a computer lab, Barroso emailed his students and announced the exam’s postponement. He said that if the class had been evacuated during the exam, he would have had to rewrite all of the questions.

Like Barroso, many Pitt professors need to cope with missed classes as the bomb threat total reached 16 on Wednesday. Some have taken to emailing out alternative class meeting places in case of evacuation, while others struggle with how to adapt their classes because of missed course material.

“I will have to chop some of the contents off the course due to these cancellations,” Barroso said.

Barroso said he will not reschedule his classes because he thinks there’s a slim chance that many of his 88 students will show up for a Saturday class.

Pitt released a statement on the my.pitt homepage Tuesday that said classrooms will be available April 14 and April 21 for professors who want to have make-up classes.

If professors choose to forgo holding class on the designated make-up days, the statement said that “alternative arrangements [for covering course material] should be clearly conveyed to students by April 7.”

One of Barroso’s students, sophomore Katie Schumacher, said that she received the Emergency Notification System alert about 20 minutes before the time slot for her March 30 exam.

She said that she had felt prepared for the exam, but, because of its cancellation, she had to adjust her weekend study schedule to allot time to look over course material again.

Tyler Nalbach faced a similar situation when his organic chemistry exam in the Chevron Science Center was postponed on March 28 after the building received a bomb threat.

“Having to cancel the OChem test was frustrating because it was rescheduled the same day as my physics exam, which inhibited my ability to do my best, since I was now dividing my study time among two tests,” the sophomore said.

Nalbach’s organic chemistry professor, Dennis Curran, was out of town when an exam scheduled for his students was interrupted by a Chevron bomb threat.

He said his test proctor made the decision to wait to hand out the exam during the first few minutes of class in case there was an evacuation. That way the students didn’t see the exam, and it was held during the next class.

“Frankly, I am not sure what I would do if this happened in the middle of an exam. Collect the exams on the way out? But then … I hope it won’t come to that,” Curran said.

To prevent exam cancellation, psychology professor Melanie Shoup-Knox made alternative room plans.

On March 14, Shoup-Knox said she did not know if the threat to the Cathedral of Learning would be cleared by the time of the class’s scheduled exam, so she told students to make sure to keep their eyes on their inboxes for a new room assignment.

“These students deserve to have the exams when they are scheduled,” Shoup-Knox said.

Threats during finals week

Despite the preventative measures professors are taking regarding the threats, many have said they are not sure what decisions they will make in the event that Pitt receives bomb threats during finals week.

Pitt spokesman Robert Hill did not respond to multiple requests for comment on whether the University has a plan in case a threat happens during finals week.

Shoup-Knox said that she would work with her department to reschedule any evacuated final exams as soon as possible.

“If this should happen, it would most certainly affect students negatively,” she said. “It would be a shame if individuals would be selfish enough to disrupt the education of so many students.”

Barroso said that final exams week would be the worst time for a bomb threat to occur, but that different options are available in the case of an evacuation.

He said some alternatives would be to administer his final after 8 p.m. when most other classes are dismissed or to give the test the same day and time the following week for students who can stay.

If students can’t stay the extra week, he said one plan would be to give them an “incomplete” grade and have them take a new test the first day of class the following semester.

“We can always rewrite the exam, reschedule, etc., but many students have already bought air tickets and simply cannot stay in town to retake it the following week at the same time of class,” Barroso said. “I hope it won’t happen, but if it does, we may be in a very complicated situation.”