Suspicious Package That Caused Evacuation of Cabrillo Campus Was a Class Project

In a terse entry on its Facebook page, the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office said that the suspicious package that caused the evacuation of Cabrillo College's Aptos campus Thursday was a student's school project innocently left behind.

Thousands of people were evacuated from the upper campus Thursday between 10:50 a.m. and 2 p.m. when the package was spotted in the 400 building, which houses social sciences, anthropology, communications and journalism.

The Sheriff's bomb squad used a robot to destroy the package shortly after noon, which one witness reported to have been wrapped in electrical tape.

Students and staff were alerted to the evacuation by the school's mobile alert notification system, which also covers Scotts Valley and Watsonville campuses. There was nothing on the Cabrillo home page until after 12 p.m.

To sign up, text Cabrillo to 253788 on your phone or go online to www.alertu.org/cabrillo.

In a note to campus employees, the administration said "We will assess how to improve our preparedness should something of this nature occur in the future."

Some 15,000 students attend the community college.