The UW-Madison Police Department responded to a call from Bascom Hall about a suspicious package around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning that turned out to be a misplaced container of printer toner.
Lt. Eric Holen of the UW Police Department said the package was found in the mailroom of the building. We got the call, made sure the area was safe, including a canine search, and everything was negative,\ Holen said.
UW-Madison freshman Makeisha Edwards said her Women's Studies 102 class, which meets in Bascom Hall Wednesday mornings, was asked to leave the building.
""We were sitting there during lecture and the policewoman came in from the back and started yelling that we need to evacuate … basically that we needed to evacuate and had no choice,"" said Edwards.
According to Edwards, no one in the class was aware that a suspicious package had been found and no one seemed too concerned.
""Everyone pretty much stayed calm,"" Edwards said. ""I don't think anyone had any idea what was going on.""
University spokesperson John Lucas confirmed that the package proved to be non-threatening. ""The package was toner and nothing to be concerned about,"" Lucas said.
Holen declined to comment about the specific actions of the responding officers, citing concerns about releasing information regarding their tactical methods. The procedures used by the police are kept confidential out of concern for the safety of every individual involved.
""We don't want other people to know what our response is to something like that,"" he said.
Holen stressed that no threat of any kind was made.
""There was no bomb threat, just a package that looked out of place, so they called us,"" he said.\
