Stitler emptied after bomb scare

Nothing turns up after hour search A caller's threat that a bomb would explode Stiteler Hall forced the building's evacuation yesterday morning, according to University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich. No bomb was found during an hour-long search of the building. "There were two things that were found," Kuprevich said. "There was a package, and a ballast with wires running out of it." The package turned out to be a package, and the suspicious ballast was part of a light fixture, police said. Kuprevich said police know of no motives for the threat. The call, made to the Political Science Department at 10:48 a.m., forced the evacuation of the building, Kuprevich said. "When [University Police] did the search, there was a package laid outside of a door that no one knew who it was for," Kuprevich said. University Police then contacted the Philadelphia Fire Department and Bomb Squad. "You err on the side of being prudent," he said. "The Fire Department came, and when they inspected the device, they ascertained that it was a package and not a bomb," Kuprevich said. One of the fire fighters "decided to be brave and handle things," he said. Students and faculty were given a temporary break while the building was searched for about an hour. "The police told me that there was a bomb scare, and that [Stiteler would be] closed for an hour and a half," College junior Rob Heller said. "So I talked to my teachers and left." Although the bomb scare followed a similar scare in Meyerson Hall yesterday, Kuprevich says they are not related.