Or so claim some senior bio majors evacuated from the building a few minutes ago. They say that their professor told them to get out as soon as they smelled smoke coming from one of the upper floors--other students stood around in puzzlement, and few of the evacuated seemed to be enjoying the all-too-brief break from their academic pressures. "I'd rather be working," an Earth Science professor told us. "Fresh air is highly overrated."

The Bio majors, who were interrupted mid-lab, agree. "Cells are dying," one of them said gravely. A panicky grad student echoed her concerns: "I need to get back. What the fuck?" she exclaimed--thankfully for her overworked, engineering ilk, the building was reopened just a few minutes ago, although nobody could else could give a solid explanation as to why it was evacuated in the first place. We'll have more details as soon as they emerge.

Update: The building services guy at the 119th St. entrance tells Bwog that Mudd was evacuated due to a lab fire on the 3rd floor. The fire didn't spread, but the man said that the university doesn't take any chances as far as chemical conflagrations are concerned. Most reassuring!

Meanwhile, a cop car ran aground on a parked SUV at 119th and Amsterdam, and as of a half-hour ago police were routing traffic through Morningside Drive. The two incidents aren't linked...we don't think.

-ARR