Alarm sounds, class keeps going

Student descriptions of the alarm going off in the bathrooms in Williams Hall range from a high-pitched wail to lower-pitched beeping.

Whatever the exact sound is, students agree: It is disruptive and occurs several times a week. They also say the situation has not changed since the beginning of the semester.

It happens so often, they say, that their professors ignore it, and class goes on as usual.

Many believe the annoyance is caused by emergency duress alarms going off in the bathrooms located in the center of each of Williams' hallways. They are intended for emergencies and are activated by pulling a string or hitting a button.

Marissa Steinberg, a College sophomore who takes a Hebrew class in Williams on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, says her class does not evacuate when the alarm goes off.

"It's annoying, but it happens so often that you're used to it," she said.

Division of Public Safety officials say they don't know why the alarms are going off.

DPS spokeswoman Karima Zedan said duress alarms in the bathrooms are activated by pulling on them, making an accidental trigger unlikely.

There are other alarms in the building that could be responsible for the noise, but they are not located in the bathrooms, she said.

The alarm is located in the bathroom as a preventative measure against sexual assault, Zedan said. Thus, their placement won't be reconsidered.

If DPS identifies Williams as a hot spot for "nuisance alarms" - alarms set off repeatedly for no legitimate reason - an investigation will take place, according to Zedan. But Williams has not yet been designated a problem area, and for now the irritation seems likely to persist.

Danny Mahoney, a Facilities worker in Williams, said that only DPS officials can turn the alarm off. The length of time the noise lasts depends on how long it takes them to respond.

Zedan said that although Penn police respond immediately to a duress alarm, the process of resetting and reactivating the alarm can be time-consuming.

The University instructs faculty, staff and students to evacuate when a fire alarm sounds, but there is no policy for other types of alarms.

And some who take classes in Williams say they are unaware that there are alarms going off at all.

Dan Bregman, a College sophomore who also takes a class in Williams, said he has never heard it.

But Wharton freshman Sarah Hellman, who has a class in Williams every day of the week, has. Hellman said the first time the alarm went off, her instructor was unsure about what to do.

In the end, Hellman said, the class remained in the room, but the instructor did leave at one point to see if other classes were evacuating.

College sophomore Amy Murphy, who takes Italian in Williams on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, says the noise is unnoticeable "until it's quiet and you're trying to listen" because her classroom is farther from the bathroom than most.

Murphy said the distance between her classroom and the bathrooms is the reason the noise is lower than for other students.

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