On Sunday, Dec. 2, at approximately 7 p.m., a gas leak was reported in The Allbritton Center for Study of Public Life. Investigations by Public Safety (PSafe) and the Middletown Fire Department revealed that the source of the smell was not in fact a natural gas leak but an unidentified odor.

Students from the Quantitative Analysis Center (QAC) alerted PSafe to the odor. According to QAC member Kevin Arritt ’13, during a meeting in the QAC a student mentioned a strange smell. Another student then called PSafe. At that point Arritt exited the building, believing that it would soon be cleared out.

“I know that the smell of gas is not a good thing to smell randomly, but it was not strong enough and in enough areas that I thought we were in imminent danger in our specific area,” Arritt wrote in an email to The Argus. “Admittedly, I don’t know that much about natural gas so I don’t know the danger level, but I figured freaking out and yelling would not really help in getting people to leave the building in an orderly fashion.”

According to other students, PSafe officers arrived on the scene soon after the call was placed and after assessing the situation the officers pulled the fire alarm to evacuate students from the building. Director of PSafe Dave Meyer said that the Middletown Fire Department inspected the building and did not find any signs of a natural gas leak. Meyer said that neither the source nor nature of the odor has been identified. Allbritton remained closed to the public for the remainder of the evening.