Students respond to massive police presence at protest display
CLEVELAND COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) – Students were shocked at the response when having to evacuate Gaylord Hall Friday night after a protestors display was found out front.
Officials said just after 12:30 p.m. they got a call about a “suspicious item” in front of the Sooner Schooner statue in front of the building.
| READ MORE > Evacuation ordered on OU campus over ‘suspicious package’ >
The school sent out alerts stating that an evacuation was taking place of the building and for students not to return.
The bomb squad was called out moments later and a robot was sent out to inspect the item.
From images and videos (along with KFOR finding it in the trash can after the incident) it seemed to be rocks, a cinderblock or two, and what looked like ornaments with hair around it.
A small sign was posted above it all that stated, “ignore this like you do genocide. 28,000 and counting. Silence is complicit.”
This seemed to be in response to the massive amount of people killed in Palestine by Israel Defense Forces.
“I honestly thought the response was a little too much,” said McKenzie Myers.
Myers and dozens of other students watched and waited, nervous about the situation at hand.
“I think the people that put this up didn’t mean anything bad behind it. I think they were just exercising their freedom of speech,” said Myers.
Other students had been in contact with their parents who also got alerts from the campus.
“I was in Physics and my mom called and told me I need to get to my dorm now,” said Brighton Callaway. “I was like, Mom I promise you I’m safe.”
For over two hours the evacuation remained in place.
Just after 3:30 p.m. officials spoke with media and gave the all clear but wouldn’t answer many questions.
Would a person be charged for something like this? Why was there such a massive response for what looked like cinderblocks and rocks? Etc.
Around 6 p.m. KFOR went to the trashcan next to Gaylord where officials dumped what was found in front of the statue. It looked to be what it was in the picture; rocks, blocks, and ornaments.
Students were allowed to roam the full campus freely and all was quiet Friday night.
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